Return of Sensation
by R.L BlackRose
Summary: Sasori wakes up in the cave where he had his last battle. Human. And now, the Akatsuki want him dead. SasoIno, DeiSaku [OLD]
1. Waking

**Author's Note: OKAY, OKAY. I said I'd write some vocaloid oneshots, and I just wrote on HUGE DeiSaku. But this idea just popped into my head and, well... I had to get it down on paper.**

**I feel like I wanna continue this, so if I get... hrm... three reviews from different people, I'll continue. Tell me if you like it! Thank youz, and enjoy!**

**Deesclaimer: NARUTO EEZ NOT MINE.**

Chapter One

The first thing that he saw... was a frog.

It was quite a simple green frog, actually, just sitting on his face croaking merrily. Just a frog.

_Wait. _he thought

He sat up suddenly, scaring the frog, who slid onto his chest. He brushed it off, and it hopped onto his pants before diving into the shallow pool of rainwater at his feet and darting away.

Sasori felt horrible, putting it mildly. His entire body ached, and he grimaced as he sat up.

He felt the humidity in the air and looked up at the sky. It was filled with boiling gray clouds that drifted across the sky like mountains.

A storm was coming.

Sasori observed his surroundings. It looked like an abandoned cave with a completely broken... ceiling...

He knew this place.

"Wait." he said. His voice echoed around him.

He was alone here.

Here, where he'd had his last battle with Chiyo and Sakura.

He felt panic rising in his chest, and struggled to keep it down as he grabbed the wall of the cave he was in, pulling himself up. He suddenly realized that his left leg wasn't holding his weight.

_Didn't I die here? _he thought, slowly turning his head to see observe the entire scene. _Didn't I leave this life here in my parent's embrace? What happened? What's going on?_

A moist wind whipped past him, ruffling his hair. A few strands fell out, glinting bright red as they drifted in the wind.

"It hurts, it hurts..." he mumbled, wincing as he willed himself to stand. Somehow, he got his left leg to hold some of his weight. But the pain was unbearable and he stopped, panting.

Sasori's eyes flickered nervously up at the sky again, and he realized that it was almost nighttime.

Which would mean that he would be stuck in the middle of nowhere during heavy storm. At night.

He slid back down the wall, noticing that he was shaking.

"Anyone?" he called weakly, his voice hoarse. "Hello?"

No one answered.

_Didn't think anyone would._ thought Sasori, his eyes dimming.

_Even though I survived that battle with Chiyo and her small friend, now I'm going to die slowly out here all over again. Or, even better! A ninja will come and kill me in this weak state._

His eyes teared up and he clenched his teeth. The sky rumbled angrily.

And then his eyes snapped open.

_Wait._

_ Wait, wait, wait._

_ Something's wrong here._

He punched his left leg, the injured one. Hard. And a scream escaped his lips, a loud scream that echoed off what remained of the cave walls and the trees.

_Pain._ he thought, breathing heavily.

_And I'm afraid._

He looked down at his chest and gasped.

It was normal. Which was the problem.

Sure, it was a little covered in blood and beat up, blood oozing from a wound on his stomach. But it looked fine. The skin was a smooth, peachy color.

_But I don't bleed!_ thought Sasori, laying a hand on his very human-looking stomach. _I'm not supposed to feel pain either! And being in a puppet body usually contains my emotions. I don't... cry! So what's this? What's going on?_

_ Am I... weak?_

_ How did this happen?_

Sasori pulled his legs up to his chest, hugging them tightly as his mind tried to process what was going on. This, of course, was a mistake, and a pain like no other ripped through his leg. But he didn't care. It didn't matter.

Thunder growled in the sky menacingly, and Sasori looked up again. The clouds looked much worse now. Yes, much, much, much worse.

And then... footsteps.

He heard them far away, sensed the presence that came with them. There was someone coming. Or maybe a group of people. He couldn't tell.

_They're probably from the village. _he thought miserably. _Now they're going to kill me, or take me back to their home where they'll torture me and THEN kill me. Great._

He squeezed his eyes shut, tears streaming freely out of them. His legs tingled. He'd been squeezing them so hard that the blood supply was cut off.

_But I'm not supposed to need blood!_ though Sasori desperately. _Why am I human? What's going on?_

And then, the presence neared, and Sasori shrank back against the wall, trembling as he bit his lip.

_This is bad. This is very, very bad._ he thought.

But all Sasori could do was wait, wait for his probable painful death at some wanderer's hand.

_I don't want to die! _thought Sasori. _But... why?_

_ Must be a side affect of being human again._

And suddenly two figures stepped out from the trees.

Sasori clenched his fists.


	2. Afraid

**Author's Note: As some of you that have read my stories might have noticed, I'm taking a bit of a different approach to this. I'm making it more short and to the point. WOW I didn't expect that many reviews and alerts in such a short time, thanks! And now, to ze story! By the way, I tweaked the description a little. This story will now include DeiSaku. :D**

**Eeenjoy!**

Chapter Two

Sasori breathed a huge sigh of relief as he saw two Akatsuki-robed men burst from the trees.

"Hello?" he shouted. "I need help, please."

The two took off their hats. It was...

"S-Sasori no Danna?" said Deidara, completely surprised.

Tobi fidgeted, but no one noticed.

"Deidara?" said Sasori.

"You're alive!" shouted Deidara, and Sasori flinched, reaching for his ears. "How, yeah? I thought you died! I thought they killed you! So how-"

"Tobi thinks we should leave." said Tobi, but neither of them paid attention.

"I don't know myself." said Sasori. "And also-"

"You're human, yeah." breathed Deidara. "I'm confused."

"I am too." said Sasori. "Listen, I can't stand... can you-"

Tobi tugged on Deidara's sleeve. "Tobi reeeally thinks we should leave now."

"What?" said Deidara, reaching for Sasori's hand to pull him up. "But we just found Sasori, yeah! Why would we leave?"

Tobi slapped Deidara's hand away from Sasori, and he flinched.

"Ow!" he said. "What's the big idea, yeah?"

"Let's leave." said Tobi. "Now, Deidara."

Deidara was surprised upon hearing the coldness in his voice. He backed away.

"Tobi?" he said, turning to Sasori. Sasori looked up at his friend, and he shook his head and shrugged.

Suddenly, Tobi darted forward and hit Deidara on the back of his neck. Deidara made a choking noise and fell.

And then the masked man picked Deidara up and started walking away.

"Wait!" pleaded Sasori. "What about me? Don't just leave me here!"

"There is no place for you in this world." said Tobi, and walked away.

_I'm so confused!_ thought Sasori. _What's going on? I don't understand!_

So he just looked up at the clouds. And a drop of water fell onto his upturned face.

It started to rain.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Hey, Ino?" said Sakura, looking up. "I think we should turn back now."

"Why?" said Ino. "It's nice out today!"

"Not for long." said Sakura, pointing up. Ino followed her gaze and sighed.

"I hate rain." she muttered.

"Well... I guess we can go just a little farther, right?" said Sakura. "It won't start raining soon."

They kept leaping through the trees, the humid wind ruffling their hair as they darted from branch to branch.

"Hey, Ino?" said Sakura, realization dawning on her. "I think we're getting close to the place... the place where I fought Sasori. And Chiyo died."

Ino turned to her, searching her face.

"We should visit there." said Ino.

"Why?" said Sakura.

"I don't know... to pay tribute to Chiyo, or something. It's somewhere to go, y'know?"

Sakura nodded. "All right, let's go!"

And so they switched onto a different path.

Physically, and in fate as well.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The minute that Tobi set him down, Deidara opened his eyes.

_I'm lucky I relaxed my neck just in time. _he thought, closing his eyes as Tobi turned to him, searching him for signs of consciousness. _Sasori would be dead meat if I hadn't._

_ I wonder why Tobi's acting all weird?_

Tobi looked around the campsite, and went to gather wood for the fire.

_This is my chance!_ thought Deidara, springing up. He whipped his cloak off and turned it over as to not attract attention to the clouds, pulled the hood over his head, and threw a clay bird to the ground. It popped into a bird, and he jumped onto it and sped off, weaving through the dense trees.

_Okay._ he thought. _All I have to do is get Sasori to somewhere where they'll help him, and come back before Tobi does. Easy, right? _

_ Yeah, there's no way this'll go well._ he thought miserably. _Oh, well. At least I'll help Sasori._

The bond between Deidara and Sasori wasn't romantic, or chummy either, really. It was more of a partnership, a friendship, getting used to each other's company.

After a while, he saw the clearing with the cave drawing near.

_I'm coming, yeah!_ he thought, and slowly made his bird descend, coasting it right over the ground. It slid to a stop right where the trees ended.

Deidara hopped off and ran. Sasori looked up.

"No!" shouted Sasori, waving his arms frantically. "Deidara, get away!"

"Huh?" said Deidara, and then he felt a huge force knock into side, followed by the sensation of warm blood running in rivers down the side of his chest as he stumbled, falling to the ground.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sasori had felt the two Kunoichi approaching.

_Oh no._ he thought, breathing deeply. _They're coming. They're coming for me. I don't know who, but they feel like females. And only Konan is female in the Akatsuki. And they're two of them. No, no, no... I can't go out like this! _

He tried to summon the courage to get to his feet, but failed, his leg shaking as sweat rolled down the side of his face, mixing with the falling rain.

And then he felt a very different, very... _familiar_ chakra approaching.

_Deidara._

"AAAAGH!" he shouted. Now Deidara was going to die too!

_I have to warn him not to come near!_ he thought desperately, gritting his teeth.

But he was too late. Suddenly, two figures burst out of the trees, and Deidara ran out at the same time.

"No!" he shouted, his arms flailing. "Deidara! Get away!"

Deidara skidded to a stop, surprised. "Huh-?"

And then the pink haired one slammed into him, digging a Kunai into his side. He tumbled to the ground.

"DEIDARAAA!" he shouted.

"What the heck?" said Sakura, leaning over the fallen blonde. "Akatsuki?"

She turned to Ino, who was just standing and gaping at something. Sakura looked at her.

"Ino, what's wrong?" she said, running to her side. Her shoes slid a little in the wet grass.

Ino could only raise one shaking arm and point.

Sakura's eyes slowly followed her arm.

"AAAH!" she shouted. "Wait, you're dead!"

Sasori just blinked, sitting on the ground and shivering from cold.

"Wait." said Ino, putting her arm down and walking towards the red-haired boy. Sasori shrank back, his injured leg dragging in front of him.

"I don't know, Sakura." said Ino, poking Sasori's forehead. He blinked in surprise. "He looks pretty pathetic right now."

"Hey." said Sasori.

"No, that's him all right." said Sakura, confused.

"Uuuuugh..." moaned Deidara from a yard or so away.

"Why are you alive?" asked Sakura, crossing your arms.

"I don't know." said Sasori.

"You're lying." she hissed.

"Sakura?" said Ino curiously. "I thought puppets didn't bleed."

Sakura's frowned. "They don't."

Ino knelt down next to Sasori and looked him in the eye.

"Are you Sasori?" she said.

Sasori hesitated before nodding.

"Sakura, he looks scared." said Ino, reaching for him. He dragged himself away with his hands, swallowing hard as he bore the pain of his left leg.

"We don't wanna hurt you." said Ino, standing up and walking towards him.

"I beg to differ." Sakura muttered, but Ino turned and gave her the evil eye, which made her stop talking. She walked over to Deidara.

Deidara came to drowsily and turned his head, seeing Sakura over him.

"What was that for, yeah?" he yelped.

"What are you talking about?" said Sakura.

"Why did you try and kill me?" he groaned, rolling over as he breathed heavily, his heart slowly pumping the blood out of him. "Seriously, I wasn't trying to kill you, yeah!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah? Then what were you trying to do?"

"Get Sasori!" he said.

"How did Sasori survive?" said Sakura.

"I have no idea, yeah!" said Deidara. "I survived blowing myself up too. Do I know why? No!"

"Well, you're Akatsuki." said Sakura. "And that means that we have to kill you."

"Not all Akatsuki want to be what they are, you know." muttered Deidara.

"What?" said Sakura.

"Nothing." he muttered, sighing. "Just kill me now. Make it be over already, yeah."

Sakura stepped back, shocked. "What? No!" she shouted.

"You just said you wanted to kill me, make up your mind!" he said.

"Why do you want me to kill you?" she said, confused.

"The Akatsuki are going to kill me anyway if they know I tried to escape again."

Sakura tilted her head.

"Again?" she muttered.

"Ugh..." he moaned, a shudder going through his body. "Kill me... or they'll kill me... first..." he gasped, out of breath.

"I don't understand!" said Sakura, but then his eyes slid shut and his head drooped to the side.

Meanwhile, nearby, Ino was trying to get Sasori to talk.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

Sasori shrugged, backing away.

Ino followed him, relentlessly bombarding him with questions.

"What are you doing? How are you alive? Why did you turn yourself into a puppet? Why aren't you a puppet right now?" she asked accusingly.

Sasori just sort of... stared at her.

"You're not going to talk to me, are you." she said.

Sasori just kept staring, his eyes wide and afraid.

"Sakura!" called Ino. "What do we do?"

"Deidara just passed out." Sakura said, picking him up in her arms and drawing in a breath as she felt her arms get soaked with blood.

_Maybe I shouldn't have stabbed him quite that hard._ she thought.

"Well, he's just not talking to me." said Ino. "He's all freaked out."

"We should go to the village." said Sakura. "See-"

And then, three Akatsuki burst from the trees.

"Tobi sees the traitors!" shouted Tobi, pointing at the four.

"Plus two." said Kisame, drawing his sword. Itachi crouched behind him.

"Well." said Kisame, licking his lips. "This'll be fun."

"Run." whispered Sakura. "Run fast."

"Waaay ahead of you." said Ino, whirling to escape. But then she saw the injured Sasori shaking as he looked past her at the Akatsuki, his face pale and scared.

"I'm taking him with me." she said.

"What? Why?" said Sakura.

"Well, they're the Akatsuki's enemies now." said Ino. "They might be able to tell us something.

They both knew that deep inside, that wasn't really the reason that they wanted to save the pair. But it was less complicated than their real motivations.

So Ino lifted a very surprised Sasori off the ground and swept him into her arms, and the two Kunoichi took off running with their loads.

"Why are they helping them?" said Kisame.

"I don't know, but we have to stop them." said Itachi.

And sprang from the ground, leaping after the four.


	3. Help

**Author's Note: Here ya go, chapter three!**

**If anyone is confused about anything, and I think you might be, then just leave your question in ze comments!**

**You're supposed to be a little confused in this chapter, about the scroll and Chiyo. Don't worry, it'll be explained later on. Think of it as suspense! Cuz that's what it is.**

**A huge thank you to flipspring for her/his AWESOME critique! Though I fear explaining it in Sasor's POV won't work, sorry!**

**PLEEEASE review. Thank yooouz, hope you eeenjoy!**

Chapter Three

_Okay._

_ I obviously can't my body as a puppet anymore. That's gone now._

_ I can't even walk._

_ The Akatsuki wants me dead for a reason unknown to me._

_ And I can barely talk. My head hurts._

_ My second chance at life is ruined. And all in a matter of mere seconds._

_ Why am I weak again?_

_ I have to be strong._

_ Calm down, Sasori._

Sasori forced his heartbeat to slow down, forced his mind to stop spinning in frozen circles.

_Get control of yourself again. This human body and it's mind shouldn't be that hard to control._

And then his heart took off again, racing.

_No. Slow down. I've got to get control._

_ Control_

He forced the state of shock he'd been in to lift, breathing deeply.

And then he opened his eyes.

"Put me down." he said.

"Are you insane?" said Ino. "They wanna kill you!"

"They will not." he said.

"What makes you so sure of that?" said Ino. "You-"

An kunai whizzed past her and she stumbled to the side.

Another one went by, grazing her cheek.

"You will not escape either. You can't fight them. They're powerful."

"You make no sense!" said Ino. "Look who's talking! Can you even stand?"

"No." said Sasori.

"Then how do you think you'll defeat them?" Ino grumbled.

Sasori looked back at the two Akatsuki catching up to them. "I have my ways."

"You're insane." she said. "Completely in-"

A shiruken whizzed past far too close, and Ino wildly dodged, jumping to the side. She tripped, and Sasori was on the ground.

"Ino!" shouted Sakura.

Sasori stood on his one good leg and lifted his arms.

_I used human puppets before. _he thought, thin strands of air stretching from his fingertips. _I can make myself walk. And then I can defeat them._

And Sasori was sure of himself. After all, his logic rarely failed him

He wrapped the threads of chakra around himself. Now, he was his own puppet.

"Ha! You think you can beat us?" sneered Kisame, raising his sword. "And here I thought you were supposed to be smart."

Sasori concentrated, and then he walked.

_Do I still have scrolls?_ he wondered, reaching into his pocket. There was one left.

He pulled it out.

Tobi watched silently from the sidelines.

Sakura skidded to a stop, her shoes squeaking on the wet grass as she dumped Deidara onto the ground.

"Ow!" he yelped.

"You just stay put!" shouted Sakura, running to help Ino.

"Do I really have a choice?" Deidara groaned.

Sakura ran towards Ino just as Sasori whipped the scroll open.

It burst into smoke that billowed in a huge ashen cloud.

"What are you doing?" shouted Ino, coughing and covering her eyes with her sleeve.

_Well. That doesn't look right._ thought Sasori, squinting.

Itachi held out his arm and Kisame stopped.

"What is that?" he said.

"I don't know." Kisame muttered. "But I don't think it's good."

"For him or for us?" said Itachi.

And then the smoke blew to the side, revealing...

"No." said Sasori. "No, it can't be!"

Standing in the small clearing in the rain were Sasori's mother and father.

Not the puppets. It was really them.

Sasori stepped back.

_What was that scroll? _he thought, clenching his teeth. _What is this? Some sort of illusion?_

"Sasori!" his mother called, holding out her arms. "We've missed you so much!"

Sakura's eyes widened. She felt the evil from the two people or whatever they were hanging heavily in the air.

She was about to call out a warning, but was surprised to hear Deidara shouting out to Sasori.

"No, Sasori!" shouted Deidara, ignoring the pain that talking made him feel. "Don't listen to them! There's something wrong with them, stop!"

Sakura turned in surprise. _He can sense evil energies?_ she thought, baffled.

"Why wouldn't we be us?" said Sasori's father, kneeling and holding out his hands. "Come on, my son. Don't listen to them."

Sasori's mind screamed out to him, telling him not to listen, to ignore them and run away or fight them. But his eyes glazed over, the sheer power overtaking his logic as he took two tenative steps forward...

And that was all the steps he managed to take, because Ino threw himself onto him, slapping him. He lost control of the chakra threads holding himself up and collapsed, crying out as his leg folded beneath him.

"Snap out of it!" she shouted at him.

And then Kisame grinned.

"Let's go." he said, and Itachi nodded. The two ran silently around the strange apparition still hovering in the middle of the clearing, and Kisame swung his sword.

"INO!" shouted Sakura, running to help her. But Ino hadn't heard the two Akatsuki approaching, and she turned slowly as the huge sword smashed into her, knocking her off Sasori. She rolled a little before coming to rest on her back, eyes closed.

"No...!" said Sakura, but Itachi blocked her path to her friend.

"I'll show you what happens to traitors who try and run away from Akatsuki." said Kisame, smiling as he lifted his sword high in the air.

Sasori saw the sword, silhouetted against the sun.

"Wait! Kisame." he said. "Who told you that I ran?"

"Tobi." said Kisame.

"Don't believe him." said Sasori. "I just woke up human here. He has some strange intention that we don't know. What would be my reason for trying to ruin the Akatsuki?"

Kisame hesitated.

"Your story is interesting," said Itachi, "but what of Deidara?"

"Hey, yeah!" said Kisame. "He's actually tried to escape a few times. What about him?"

_Escape?_ thought Sakura, glancing over at Deidara. _Why would he try to escape from Akatsuki?_

"He didn't trust Tobi either and came to help me." said Sasori.

Kisame's eyes narrowed and he turned to Tobi, who was a few yards away, waiting.

"Tobi!" he called. "Is this true?"

"Tobi saw him escaping with Deidara!" said Tobi.

"You're lying, yeah!" shouted Deidara.

"It is a lie." said Sasori. "Who do you trust more; me... or him?"

"Kisame." said Itachi. "We still have no explanation for Sasori coming back to life. And human, too. It's just too unreasonable. Kill him."

"What about blondie over there?" Kisame asked.

"Hey!" Deidara shouted. "Don't call me-"

"Take him back of some questioning, but I don't think he knew that Sasori was a traitor." said Itachi.

"Very well." said Kisame, smiling. "Goodbye, Sasori. Or whoever you are."

He lifted his sword.

"Agh!" shouted Deidara. "Do something, one of you, yeah!"

"Why should we?" said Sakura. "He tried to kill me!"

Ino clenched her fists.

"Ino?" said Sakura cautiously.

Kisame's sword swung down, whistling to the air. Sasori squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head to the side...

But the blow never came, and Sasori opened his eyes...

Just in time to see Ino barrel into Kisame, knocking him away right into the apparition in the middle of the clearing that was standing there still. But now, the figures in it were Kisame's old teammates that he'd murdered.

"Kisame..." said one of them, a woman, pulling him towards the rest of them.

"L-let go of me!" he shouted, struggling. But then the rest of them reached out with their long, pale arms, pulling him.

"You killed us... why...?" said another one.

"It was to protect the information, I swear!" said Kisame, his voice getting shriller. "Just let me go!"

"You killed us... we must now... kill you..." said another one.

Itachi ran to try and help his partner.

"Now's our chance!" shouted Sakura. "Let's go!"

Ino glanced back at Sasori, who was trying to make himself stand up again... and failing. Ino knew that the minute that Kisame was free, both him and Itachi would kill him.

"Don't even think about it!" said Sakura. "That doesn't involve us, we have to go back to the village. Come on, hurry!"

"No." said Ino, and ran to him.

"Ino!" shouted Sakura. "Ugh, fine! Whatever!"

Ino raced to Sasori's side.

"What are you doing?" he said. "Aren't I the enemy?"

Ino reached her hand out to him. "Maybe."

Sasori looked at her hand, and reached out to take it...

And then he looked past her and saw Deidara, his life slowly draining out of him. He panted heavily, blood leaking out of the corner of his mouth.

"No." he said, drawing his hand back.

"What? Why not?" said Ino. "Are you stupid? I'm trying to SAVE you here!"

"But only if you take him too." said Sasori.

"Who, blondie?" said Sakura from behind.

"Don't... call me... that...!" Deidara gasped.

Sasori nodded.

"You know." said Sakura. "If we take you with us, all we're going to do is take you to Konoha for questioning. They could even execute you there."

"I don't mind." said Sasori. "At least I want to have an idea of why I did not die."

"Well, it's your funeral." muttered Sakura, going to pick up Deidara.

Ino reached her hand out to Sasori, and he hesitated a moment.

"Take it!" shouted Ino. "Quickly!"

She glanced over at Itachi, who was already hacking off the hands of the spirits to free Kisame.

Sasori reached up and grasped Ino's hand.

Ino lifted him up and slung him onto her back.

_Wow, he's light._ she thought.

Sakura lifted Deidara off the ground. "Run!" she said.

And they ran.

Tobi watched them leave, pondering whether he should go after them.

_I'll have another chance._ he thought. _Right now, I should just let them go._

_ I had a suspicion that that old hag Chiyo wouldn't go out peacefully. I wasn't sure with Deidara when he survived his own self-destruction to destroy Sasuke, but now with Sasori... I'm sure. She's behind it all._

_I can sense her in the air. She's still here, her spirit never left this world. And she obviously has a goal that is unknown to me. But what? What could it be?_

_ I don't know, but I do know this; I must prevent her from achieving this at all costs._

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"What the heck was that scroll?" Ino asked Sasori, frowning.

"I don't know." said Sasori. "It was probably there before, maybe some strange Jutsu. But I don't remember it. I wonder..."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Ino... for the record?"

Ino turned to Sakura.

"What?" she said.

"This was a HORRIBLE idea!" said Sakura angrily

The storm had slowly worse, and everyone was shivering from the cold of the torrential rain that the sky spat at them.

They couldn't exactly leap through the trees with

"Wouldn't it be a good idea to stop?" said Sasori.

"You say that one more time, Sasori, and I WILL use you as an umbrella." Ino growled.

Sasori was silent.

For a little while, at least.

"I see a cave over there." said Sasori. "It looks warm. And dry."

"Why, you-!"

"Ino, you know what? He's right. Let's just stop." said Sakura.

"Fine." Ino hissed, "But don't get used to me listening to you, you annoying redhead."

"I won't." said Sasori.

Sakura ducked into the cave, and went after her. It was a cave with a slanting ceiling and rough, misshapen walls with small plants growing in the small nooks and crannies of rock.

Sakura set Deidara down, but Ino hesitated.

"Wait." she said. "You're going to try and escape if I put you down."

"I will not." said Sasori.

"I don't believe you!" said Ino.

Sasori sighed. "But you have my partner. I will not leave without my partner."

"Nice try!" said Ino haughtily, "but I'm not stupid. You would just take him and THEN run off."

"It had not occurred to me." said Sasori.

"He has a broken leg, Ino." said Sakura.

"But he stood back in the clearing." said Ino, "And he can stand again. Even though I don't bet he can run, he could just sneak out."

"Fine. Just find somewhere to put him" said Sakura.

Ino gazed thoughtfully around the cave, looking for a good place. She finally decided on a flat expanse of wall.

She murmured a jutsu under her breath and chains sprouted from the wall.

"You've gotta teach me that one sometime." said Sakura, as she watched Ino snap the cuffs at the end of the chains onto Sasori's wrists.

"Yeah, sometime." said Ino, and then she sat down, glum.

"I should probably get stuff for a fire." Sakura noted, standing up. "Then I'll heal those guys. I'll be right back."

"You think you'll find anything dry?" said Ino.

"Maybe." said Sakura.

She walked out into the pouring rain.

There was an awkward silence for a little while. Ino glanced at Sasori and noticed that he was staring at her.

"What?" she said.

Sasori shook his head and stared at the ground.

"Hey... why did you join Akatsuki?" said Ino. "Sakura told me your story. Why?"

"They were looking to create a new world. I wanted to join them in it, and thus live forever. They will win eventually."

"No, they won't!" said Ino. "Why do you want to live forever anyway?"

"Because true art is forever." said Sasori.

"That's not true." said Ino.

Sasori looked up at her, a glint of surprise in his eyes. "Yes it is. It's not art unless it can be appreciated forever."

"And you think people 'appreciate' what you're doing?" said Ino.

"It doesn't matter. My art is beautiful." he responded.

"Life is only beautiful because it ends eventually. We have an amount of time to make the world beautiful, and then it's gone. That's the art of life, how some manage to make every second count." said Ino.

Ino's words went deep inside him, coming to rest somewhere in his heart.

"That's what he says too." said Sasori, nodding towards Deidara.

"Then your friend is wise." said Ino.

"He likes blowing things up." said Sasori.

"Or not." said Ino.

The corners of Sasori's lips twitched upwards in what could have been the slightest hint of a smile.

"Hey, I found some stuff!" said Sakura, ducking into the cave with a pile of wood. "It was under a really leafy tree, so it didn't get wet."

She set up a fire in the middle of the cave, going over to Deidara.

He didn't looks so good. His face was pale as paper and his face was drenched in sweat.

Sakura took a towel from the pack on her back and cleaned off Deidara's face. He woke up.

"Ugh..." he moaned. "Where..."

"You're in a cave with us!" said Sakura. "Now stop talking!"

Deidara swallowed, his throat dry. "Akatsuki..."

"We ran from them." said Sakura. "Now shush!"

She ripped his robe off, revealing the simple shirt and pants underneath.

_Thank heaven I didn't stab him any lower than I did._ she thought. She reached for his shirt-

"Gah!" she shouted, pushing her hands off him.

"I'm only trying to heal you, you idiot!" said Sakura, pushing him against the floor with her hands.

"No! Let go of me!" he shouted, squirming. "You want to kill me or something, yeah, I don't trust you!"

"Stay.. put...!" Sakura grunted as she tried to hold the thrashing boy in one place. "Ino, can you do that chain thing again?"

Ino held out her hand and chains sprung up from the earth, wrapping themselves around Deidara's wrists, legs, and chest. They tightened, holding Deidara to the ground.

"No, stop!" he said. "Let me go!"

"You're going to make yourself bleed to death!" Sakura yelled. "Stay put!"

"You'll kill me anyway, yeah!" he said back.

Sakura seized his shirt and ignoring Deidara's protests, pulled it off.

Deidara cried out in pain as some of his skin came off with the shirt. The mouth on his chest twitched.

"It hurts, stop...!" he said.

Sakura put her hands on the wound and Deidara made a horrible choking noise, squeezing his eyes shut. Tears streamed down his cheeks.

Sakura saw tears leak out of his eyes, felt him shaking beneath her palms and a pang of sympathy struck her heart. When he was hurt, he looked like he could be just about any wounded ninja. Like Naruto, or Ino, or any other normal person.

"SSShhh..." she whispered softly. "It'll be okay. It'll all be okay soon."

_WHY ARE YOU COMFORTING AN AKATSUKI?_ her inner self screamed.

_How am I supposed to know?_ thought Sakura. _I'm too soft!_

As she concentrated, Deidara's breaths grew less heavy, less labored, and a look of peace settled onto his face.

"Thank... you..." he whispered before drifting into sleep.

"You're welcome." said Sakura, sitting up.

"Will he be okay?" asked Sasori.

"In a little while." said Sakura. "Let's just stay here for now."

She tossed some blankets from her pack at Ino and curled up on one next to her patient, who was breathing softly now.

_A job well done._ she complemented herself before nodding off.

Ino looked at Sasori, sitting on the floor all chained to the wall.

"Do you want a blanket?" she asked.

"No, I'm fine." said Sasori. But his shivering gave him away.

Ino reached up and wrapped one very surprised Sasori in a blanket before going to sleep.

Sasori pulled the blanket tighter around himself and looked over at Ino.

He watched her sleep.


	4. Warmth

**Author's Note: Wow, long chapter! I must warn you, Sasori goes out of character for about four sentences here. Also, I there is also a slight fluff warning. HA, but if you think this is extreme fluff, you obviously haven't read some of my OTHER stories, muahahahaaa! Anyway, PLEASE review it took so much to do this... pweeze? :3**

**Thanks for the reviews (and critique) And I hope you enjoy zis chapter!**

Chapter Four

Sakura's eyes snapped open when she was woken up by a loud stream of curses.

"Aaagh." she muttered, sitting up slowly. "What the-?"

"Why am I tied to the FLOOR, yeah?" she heard.

It was Deidara. Awake. And he was, in fact, chained to the ground.

"Because you were being annoying." said Sakura, looking outside. It was dark, the stars glinting in the sky.

"Why is Sasori tied to the wall, yeah? You should let us go right now, or I promise once I get outta here I'll-"

"Which is why I'm not untying you." said Sakura, lying down again. "Go back to sleep. You're going to wake up Ino and Sasori."

"Let me go or I'll... uh, talk loudly until I wake them up! Yeah!"

"I'm so scared." Sakura mumbled, tired.

"Hey! Don't go to sleep!" he said. "Listen to me! Untie me or-"

Sakura sat up abruptly and turned to him angrily.

"Listen!" she snarled. Deidara fell silent. "We just saved both your sorry butts and-"

"No, you didn't, yeah!" he said, his eyes narrowing. "You said it yourself, they're probably just going to kill us in Konoha anyway!"

Sakura flopped onto the floor. "No, yes... maybe!" she said, rubbing her head. "Whatever, just shut up!"

Deidara paused for a second, confused.

_So they saved us._ he thought. _But they can't decide WHY she saved us. What's going on here?_

He stared at Sakura's back. She'd turned away from him to try and go back to sleep.

"Untie me!" he said.

"AAAAGH!" she groaned. "I can't, okay? Ino does that!"

"Hey! Ino! You! Wake up!" he shouted.

Sakura sat up and went over to him, holding up a roll of fabric.

"I will stuff this in your mouth if you tell me to untie you again." said Sakura. "All of it."

"Psht. Whatever, yeah." said Deidara. Sakura huffed and lay down on the floor again.

But a small question was nagging her from the corner of her mind and she sat up again and looked at Deidara. Deidara glanced up at her.

"At the clearing," she said, "One of the Akatsuki said that you've tried to escape."

"Yeah, so?" said Deidara.

"Why?" said Sakura.

Deidara bit his lip. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Why did you join Akatsuki?" said Sakura.

"They made me."

"I still don't understand." said Sakura.

"Good for you, then." said Deidara.

Sakura's eyes narrowed.

"Fine. See if I care." she said, and with that she curled up on her blanket.

Minutes passed.

Sakura felt the cold wind rush into the cave, and she wrapped her blanket tighter around her, grateful for it's warmth.

And then she remembered Deidara and looked over. He had no sleeves or long pants.

He was shivering.

She sat up again. "Do you want a blanket?"

"What?" he said, surprised.

"Are you deaf?" she said. "Do you want a blanket?"

"You don't have to try and be nice to me, you know." said Deidara. "I don't need your help or anyone else's, yeah."

Ignoring him, Sakura reached into her pack and pulled out a blanket. She shuffled over on her knees over the earthen floor and laid the blanket on him, smoothing it over his body.

Deidara looked at her in surprise, startled by her kindness.

"I thought you might be cold." she muttered, turning away. "Trying to depend on yourself will only make you freeze to death."

Deidara turned and looked her way.

He felt the cold slowly drain away as warmth seeped into him.

It was the kindest thing that anyone had ever done for him.

Ever.

"I never wanted to kill anyone, you know." he whispered.

Sakura turned curiously, the light of the moon playing shadows across her face.

So he _was _going to talk.

"In Iwakagure, I used to make fireworks and sculptures." he continued. "From a young age. I thought they were beautiful. But... the others didn't like it. They teased me to the point of violence. But I didn't want to listen, I only wanted to make my art more beautiful so maybe one day they'd appreciate it."

Sakura drew her blanket up to her chin, folding her knees up to her chest.

"I was tricked. Someone who I trusted told me that I had to learn a certain technique from a scroll I had to take and then they'd all like my art. So I went, and I took the scroll. I was surprised when the people of Iwakagure after me, and I ran. I used the technique and killed the ones pursuing me."

"It was horrible." He continued. "I ran for days, completely insane, babbling gibberish. Out of my mind. Eventually, I slowly regained my sanity and realized that no village would accept me as a missing-nin. I had to survive somehow."

He stared up at the ceiling, sinking deep into his thoughts.

"I was eventually captured by some crazy terrorist organization that wanted me to blow up things for them. When I refused, they tortured me until I gave in. And so I lived as a bomber for years."

"And that's when things got really bad. The Akatsuki learned about me, and I refused to join them when they came to me. Itachi made me fight him. I lost."

He clenched his teeth, the hate building in his eyes.

"That idiot Itachi. I hate him, hate him forever. I immediately tried to escape when they brought me to their headquarters, but no, he was there."

"Eleven times." he said, his voice shaking a little. "That's how many times I tried to escape. And every time that I did, the torture would just get worse and worse. So I stopped trying and went along with it."

"But you acted like you enjoyed it!" said Sakura angrily. "That whole thing with Gaara... you acted like you enjoyed-"

"Enjoyed it?" he said. "If I don't act like I 'enjoy it' during my missions, the Akatsuki get suspicious. You have no idea what it's like, what they do to you if you misbehave. I just try to lose myself in the feeling of the battles. It usually works."

"I'm... I'm sorry." said Sakura.

"Don't be." said Deidara. "From here, it's just from the frying pan and into the fire."

"You can just rejoin the leaf village!" said Sakura. "Reveal everything willingly. It'll be fine-"

"Fine? How?" said Deidara. "Number one, the Akatsuki will find me and kill me no matter what if it means keeping their intel safe. And number two... Iwakagure didn't accept me. These leaf people won't either. I've killed far too many. And number three... I'll follow what Sasori does."

"Why?" said Sakura.

"Because," said Deidara, "He tried to help me escape. All eleven times."

"Why did he help you?" said Sakura.

"Because he wanted me to be free." said Deidara. "He wanted me to have the chance to go out and make my art out in the world."

There was a moment of silence.

_So he really is human._ Sakura thought. _He just... didn't get a chance to live. His free will was taken from him._

_ But what matters is that under that thick head, there's a human being. And I can get through to that human being, if I just try hard enough._

And it did not occur to Sakura that she might have already gotten through.

"You should still come to Konoha." said Sakura.

"Haven't you been listening?" said Deidara. "They'll just-"

"No, they're not like that!" said Sakura. "They're accepting and peaceful."

"Uh-huh." said Deidara, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Just... the first thing is getting to Konoha." said Sakura. "And we're taking you with us, whether you like it or not. Get it?"

"Yeah, yeah." said Deidara.

Sakura gazed at him tiredly, and then she yawned, stretching.

"Good night." she said, and then she lay down on her blanket.

The chirping of the crickets outside echoes throughout the cave.

"Thank you for trusting me." said Sakura. "It means a lot."

She slid her blanket over just a little closer to Deidara and closed her eyes.

Deidara looked over at her, and a cold wind blew through the cave, ruffling her hair. It should have made him cold, even with the blanket.

But it didn't. Because a warm feeling, like syrup poured into his veins, was spreading through him. It warmed him to the tips of his fingers.

Because the only person who had ever thought to show him kindness was near him.

_Maybe... she understands..._ thought Deidara, before falling into a deep sleep.

He dreamt of cherry blossoms.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sasori slowly ascended into the light of morning.

He looked down, seeing that Ino had gone off to somewhere. Deidara and Sakura were across the cave, still sleeping.

_Well. So that's how humans sleep._ he thought.

Ino came back into the cave, a small sack filled with berries at her side.

"Well. You're awake." she said.

"Hello." said Sasori,

"You don't say 'hello' when you wake up, you say good morning." said Ino. "Honestly!"

"I'm chained to a wall." said Sasori. "How is that waking up in a good morning?"

"You just say it anyway!" said Ino.

"Oh." said Sasori.

Ino knelt and dug through the sack, finding a rock that she'd picked up with the fruits.

"Hey! Wakey wakey!" she shouted, throwing it across the cave. It struck the wall and bounced off, hitting Sakura.

"I'm awake, I'm awake." Sakura muttered.

She and Deidara opened their eyes at the same time.

"AH!" they both shouted, finding themselves face to face. Sakura stood up immediately, and they both turned red.

"Uh, um, let me get my things in order so we can continue, that'll be nice!" said Sakura, her voice strange. "So we can go back to Konoha and not use up anymore time... that we have to because, we... nevermind, ahaha!"

She hurried off to put all the blankets away.

Ino shook her head and held out a round, juicy fruit to Sasori.

"Eat it." she said.

The chains on Sasori clanked as he took the fruit from her, inspecting it.

_I'm actually going to eat something._ he thought. _I've forgotten what it's like!_

He bit into the fruit.

By the time Ino turned back to him, the fruit was gone.

"You're hungry." said Ino. "Here, have another one."

"No." said Sasori. "I'm fine."

"Suit yourself." said Ino.

"Hey, Ino!" shouted Sakura. "Can you handle Sasori's leg?"

"Sure." said Ino. She closed her eyes and laid one hand on Sasori's leg.

"Wow. It's very broken." she said. "What happened?"

"I have no idea." said Sasori.

"Huh." said Ino, and her hands glowed blue as she tried to heal it.

"I... can't get it to work right...!" she said. "We need the Konoha medics."

"Hey you!" shouted Deidara. "Can you unchain me, yeah?"

"What? No!" said Ino, glancing at him. "And my name is Ino, thank you very much."

"You could loosen the chains." said Sakura. "Believe me, he's going to annoy you until you do."

"Fine." Ino grumbled, and the chains on Deidara's arms loosened and he sat up.

"Agh..!" he groaned, the wound on his stomach burning.

"Oh yeah." said Sakura. "That's still healing, you know."

"Great. NOW you tell me, yeah!" said Deidara.

"I can't do this here." Ino told Sasori. "We need the Konoha medical-nin."

_Well._ thought Sasori. _There goes my original plan._

_ How am I supposed to grab Deidara and escape if I can't walk?_

His heart dropped as he faced reality.

_Now I've really done it._ he thought. _This is hopeless. Now we're going to die and it's all my fault._

He deflated.

Ino noticed. "What?" she said.

"Nothing." he said glumly.

"You _were_ going to try and escape with Deidara, weren't you?" said Ino lightly.

Sasori looked at her with a look of sad surprise.

"Yeah, you're too obvious." she said. "Why don't you just forget about living forever and join Konoha?"

"No." said Sasori. "I need to make myself into a puppet again."

"You idiot!" said Ino. "You don't have to. You don't have to make yourself into a puppet, or even make art that lasts forever."

"You don't understand." said Sasori.

"No." said Ino angrily. "You're the one who doesn't understand."

She took the chains off him and lifted him onto her shoulders like the day before.

"Sakura, can we go?" said Ino.

"How am I supposed to take him?" she asked, pointing at Deidara. "He'll escape, or slow us down-"

Ino pointed at Sasori.

"No." said Sakura. "Nuh-uh!"

"Come on, he's even lighter than Sasori." said Ino. "Just DO it!"

Sakura sighed and the chains on Deidara pulled back into the ground.

She held out her hand and helped Deidara onto her shoulders.

"You're not very tall, yeah." said Deidara.

"You're not much taller than I am either!" Sakura hissed.

_Her hair smells good._ thought Sasori. He slapped himself internally for that one.

"Let's go!" said Ino.

The moment she said that, the rain fell from the sky, pounding the ground almost immediately into mud.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" said Ino angrily. "Fine. Whatever, world, see if I care."

"I don't think the world cares if you care." said Sakura.

"SHUT. UP." said Ino, and they walked out into the rain.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I'm getting wet, yeah." Deidara whined.

"So am I!" said Sakura. "Must you state the glaringly obvious?"

"Yes, Yes I must." said Deidara.

"This... it's like having voices in your head, having him on me." Sakura mumbled.

Sasori was falling asleep.

"Wake up!" said Ino.

"Hm?" he said.

"How much did you even sleep last night?" said Ino.

"I had dreams." he answered.

"About what?" said Ino, at a loss for anything else to say.

"Things." said Sasori.

Ino kept walking, and she felt his head settle on hers as he nodded off again.

She sighed. _Fine, let him sleep._

She felt his slow breathing, and let her footsteps fall in sync with it.

Deidara suddenly looked back.

"Hey." he said. "What did we just pass?"

"Did we just pass something?" said Sakura. "Ino, stop."

Ino stopped. "What? What did we pass?"

"Right there! A cave!" said Deidara.

They started walking towards where Deidara was pointing.

"And it looks like-!" said Deidara.

"The cave where we slept last night!" said Ino.

"Something's wrong." said Sasori, waking up immediately. "There's something wrong. Ino, let's go. Now."

"I don't see anything." said Ino.

Sasori felt something horrible, something wrong getting closer. The bad feeling resounded within him, and it made him feel terrified, almost sick. He controlled the cold fear and spoke again.

"Let's go, we have to go now." he said, his nails digging into the sides of Ino's head.

"Ow, stop that!" said Ino. "Why?"

"Did we go in a circle?" Sakura muttered, checking her map. It made no sense... how could someone go in a straight line without actually moving forward?"

"Ino!" shouted Sasori. "Let's go, let's go, now!"

Ino was surprised at the urgency in his voice, and looked back at him. "What's the rush? We-"

And then a glowing light appeared in between the leaves of the trees, and it got brighter as whatever the wielder of the light was got closer... and closer...

Ino and Sakura stepped back. Sasori shook. He felt like there was something controlling him... almost like...

A puppet emerged from the trees.

It was Sasori's old puppet. The third Kazekage.

Sasori screamed loudly, completely out of character.

"Run." he whimpered. burying his face in Ino's hair. "Please."

Ino knew that Sasori wouldn't act like this unless there was something seriously wrong. So she ran. And Sakura ran after her.

The puppet followed close behind.

"Sasori!" shouted Ino as she ran. "What is it?"

Sasori felt his mind clear as they got farther away from the puppet.

"It is the same thing that emerged from my scroll." he said.

"What is that thing?" said Sakura.

"It's evil." said Deidara. "Whatever it is, it's evil, yeah... we should probably run faster! Go faster!"

"I don't see YOU running!" said Sakura.

"Well, I'm here to encourage you! Look at it that way, yeah." chuckled Deidara.

"I will drop you on the ground so that the creepy puppet thing can get you." said Sakura. "YOU WANT THAT?"

"No thank you." said Deidara. "I'd...really rather not!"

"Didn't think so." said Sakura.

Ino turned and flung a big Kunai at it.

"Now! Turn sharply!" said Ino, and they turned.

"That was a horrible idea." said Deidara. "See, now it's cutting across the forest to get to us."

And it was.

"Hey! Can you make a bird or something?" Sakura asked Deidara.

"No, I don't have enough chakra!" said Deidara.

"I have an idea." said Sasori.

"Well, let's hear it!" said Sakura, glancing back nervously at the gaining puppet.

"Fight it." said Sasori.

"Yeah, we probably shouldn't run." said Ino. She screeched to a stop and drew a knife.

But when she lunged forward to stab, the knife went right through the puppet.

"Huh?" said Ino.

And the puppet grabbed Sasori as she fell.

"Sasori!" she shouted.

The puppet held up the redhead, his legs dangling in the air. He tried to kick the puppet, but it was to no avail.

The puppet pressed Sasori onto itself, and everyone there saw Sasori's outline get blurry, merging with that of the puppet.

Sasori struggled, trying to get out of his own creation's embrace. It smelled like blood and death, but he was getting so... sleepy...

Ino reached out to him, and he tried to reach out to her as he sank into the puppet... becoming one with it...

She grabbed his hand and pulled.

Every cell in Sasori's body screamed at him to let go of her hand, to just let the cold darkness of death swallow him. But he didn't.

And she pulled him out. Sasori tumbled onto Ino as he fell to the ground.

The puppet shattered, and dissolved into the air.

"Is it...?" said Sakura.

"It's not gone." said Deidara. "It's still here, it just wanted to escape. Whatever it was, we haven't seen the last of it."

"Sasori!" shouted Ino, shaking him. "Sasori, wake up!"

Sasori's eyes fluttered open.

He turned over on his side and threw up.

"Sasori...!" said Ino, and she lifted him in her arms. His face was pale as snow, yet his skin was burning like a hot furnace.

"Let's get out of the rain. This was a horrible idea." said Ino.

They trudged through the mud back to the cave that they'd apparently come back to, and sure enough, there it was.

"Still don't understand." muttered Sakura as she went in. When she was in, she immediately dumped Deidara on the floor.

"Ow!" he yelped, and chains sprang from the wall and wrapped around his arms.

"Oh, come on!" he complained.

"You can never be too careful." said Sakura, sitting down.

Ino laid Sasori on the floor and uncapped the small canteen filled with water on her belt.

"Drink it!" she said, and she forced the water into Sasori's mouth.

He swallowed, and looked up at her. Ino was worriedly checking for any illnesses she already knew about.

Sasori tried to say something, but his mouth just opened and closed. No words came out.

_I'm weak._ he thought. _Once again, I have to rely on her. She's supposed to be my enemy._

_ So then... why do I feel so safe?_

Ino summoned chains from the wall, and they wound around Sasori's arms.

Just in case.

Sasori was suddenly overtaken by his drowsiness, and he curled up.

He fell asleep.


	5. Circles

**Author's Note: Ah, another day, another chapter! WOW they take looong lately :(**

**Some of my sadistic writing tendencies show through here, but... heheh, let's just say this is nowhere NEAR my worst! Anyway, please review, hope you eeeeenjoy!**

Chapter Five

When Sasori woke up, he felt better.

It had stopped raining, and the sun streamed into the small cave.

"Are you feeling better?" said Ino. Sasori nodded, sitting up slowly, then looked around the cave.

"Where did Deidara go?" he asked.

"Oh, Sakura wanted to check if we can get out of this area. She brought Deidara along with her."

"Why?" said Sasori.

"Because he can fly." said Ino. "And she can make sure he doesn't run off."

Sasori nodded.

"Sasori." said Ino. "Do you have any idea what that thing is?"

Sasori shook his head.

"Are you sure?" said Ino suspiciously. "The scroll _was_ in your pocket, after all. Don't you know what it was?"

Ino clearly saw the hesitation in his eyes.

"I know that you know what it is!" said Ino. She grabbed his shoulders and looked him in the eye. "It almost did away with you. We can only fight it if we know what it is, speak!"

Sasori sighed and looked down at the ground. Ino let go of his shouders and let her arms drop to her sides.

"It's a special puppet." he said. "My grandmother Chiyo had been working on the ultimate technique, a puppet that would find the enemy's main weaknesses and fears and mirror them with itself. But she saw that it was turning evil and developing a consciousness, so she put it away."

"But before I left my village, I stole the technique and tried to work on it myself. I saw that I couldn't control it either, so I put it away too."

"Okay, so you grabbed it by accident?" said Ino. "Then... why didn't you control it?"

"There's something wrong." said Sasori. "To activate that one, one has to say a particular word. I said nothing. And furthermore... I didn't hold it's controls. Whoever said the word was the one that could control it."

"But no one talked." said Ino. "So... who said it?"

Sasori shrugged.

"I have no idea." he said. "It makes no sense."

They were quiet for a moment while they pondered what might have happened.

"And only one person could have known how to activate that puppet." said Sasori.

Ino sucked in a breath and turned to Sasori.

"Sasori," she said. "Are you saying that Chiyo was there with us?"

"It's impossible." he said. "Sakura said she died. And I didn't see her there."

"What if she was with us anyway?" said Ino.

Sasori opened his mouth, then closed it again.

"Ino." he said. "As soon as the others get back... please, it might be a good idea to go back to that clearing."

"If we still can't get out of this area." said Ino. "But what does it want with you?"

"Well." said Sasori, mulling it over. "If a puppet develops a consciousness, then what it will most probably want is to gain free will. And to do that, it has to..."

"Kill you?" said Ino.

"In short... yes." said Sasori, finally realizing the trouble he was in. "That thing wants me dead, and it'll stop at nothing to get to me."

"It'll stop if we make it stop!" said Ino.

"But it's powerful." he said. "Ino..."

"Hm?" she said.

"I think that I am afraid." said Sasori.

"You _think_ that you're afraid?" said Ino, tilting her head as she smiled. "You're a strange person, you know that?"

"Am I?" said Sasori, the lightest hint of a smile rising onto his face.

"You should smile more, you know." said Ino, the redness of a blush creeping into her face. "You look... good when you smile."

"Do I?" said Sasori, his voice mildly surprised.

Ino nodded. "You really could be just a normal person if you came to Konoha. Forget the past, and art, and just... come with us."

_It's a tempting offer._ said part of himself.

But he shook his head. "No." he said.

"That's fine." said Ino, though she was a little sad. "Just... think about it."

Sasori nodded, knowing that even if he didn't want to the possibility would always linger in his mind.

"Thank you." he said.

"You should probably just sleep until they come back." said Ino. "You look tired."

"I will." said Sasori, and then he lay down and slept.

Ino watched him sleep, all the while holding back the guilty feelings of affection that plagued her.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I'm telling you, you're going the wrong way, yeah!" said Deidara.

"I'll dump you on the floor right now if you say that one more time!" Sakura said back, checking her map again.

Sakura had stopped walking to check her map, carrying one very annoyed blonde on her back.

"We're back where we were before!" said Deidara from his perch on Sakura's back. "Doesn't that mean we went in a circle?"

"But that's ridiculous!" said Sakura, checking her compass. "We've been walking in the same direction for about an hour!"

"And every, like, ten minutes we come back to this rock, yeah!" said Deidara.

"Can you make a bird yet?" said Sakura.

"Almost, but not yet." said Deidara.

"Tell your chakra to hurry up." Sakura muttered under her breath.

"Hurry up, chakra! Pretty please, yeah?" said Deidara.

"NEVER MIND!" Sakura huffed, turning the map sideways.

"Yeah, turn the map SIDEWAYS!" said Deidara, smacking his forehead. "Because that will TOTALLY get us to go in the right direction, no?"

"You have about one second to shut up." said Sakura. "I'm just checking something, sheesh!"

"Fine." said Deidara. "Walk faster, though."

"I don't see YOU using your legs!" said Sakura.

"But I'm injured, yeah!" said Deidara. "You wouldn't dump a poor, helpless injured person on the ground, would-"

Sakura dropped him on the ground.

"OW!" he yelped. "Hey, that wasn't very nice!"  
>"Stay put while I check the map." said Sakura, pacing in a small circle while she read the map.<p>

Deidara tried to get up, but it pained him. "Do I have a choice?"

"No." said Sakura. "You don't."

She reached out and helped him back onto her back. He wrapped his arms around her neck and looked over her shoulder at the map.

"We should go that way, yeah." he said, pointing at a path.

"Eh, sure. Why not." she said, and started down that path.

The wind that blew through the trees was cold, and Sakura shivered.

"You're cold." said Deidara.

"Yeah, it's weird." said Sakura. "It got colder, did you notice?"

"Eh." said Deidara.

The leaves rustled as a gust of freezing air went through them again.

Deidara felt it this time. "Wow." he said. "It... it IS pretty cold, yeah..."

"Maybe it's something from all the rain yesterday, there might be a storm passing through here." said Sakura.

Sakura suddenly felt something wet on her skin.

"Dude, did your hand just LICK me?" she yelped.

"Wha-? Oh, sorry! That was an accident, yeah!"

"I have half a mind just to TURN AROUND AND SLAP YOU!" she shouted.

"Hate the hand-mouth, not the person, yeah!" Deidara pleaded.

She dumped him on the floor and stood over him, pointing one accusing finger at his chest.

"You lick me again," she seethed, "by accident or on purpose... and I will make you wish that you'd NEVER BEEN BORN! Are we clear?"

"Fine, yeah!" he said, holding up his hands. "Just don't kill me!"

Sakura muttered something about stupid blondes under her breath and helped Deidara onto her back again.

"Ugh... so tired, yeah..." Deidara drawled.

"Why?" said Sakura.

"Didn't sleep very well last night." he said.

The leaves crunched under Sakura's feet as she walked, the pieces drifting away in the wind.

"Neither did I." said Sakura. "Because... because of..."

"Yeah." said Deidara, blushing as he cut her off.

"Have you thought more about... Konoha?" said Sakura.

"Constantly." said Deidara.

"And?"

"I don't know." said Deidara. "Don't we have to get outta here first?"

Sakura nodded. "But... after that. Will you?"

"I don't know, just... I need to think, yeah." said Deidara.

"Fair enough." said Sakura.

A few minutes passed, and then-

"Look! It's the rock, yeah!" said Deidara.

"AGAIN?" said Sakura.

Deidara noddded. "And this time, I looked at the map. You were right, yeah."

Sakura took a moment to flash him a smug look before turning her attention back to her map.

"Okay." she said. "Can you fly _now_?"

Deidara closed his eyes for a little then shook his head. "Nuh-uh." he said.

"So... should we just go back to the cave?" said Sakura. "We'll wait for your flying powers to come back-

"Hey, why don't you just jump to the top of a tree, yeah?" said Deidara.

"That's a good idea." said Sakura. She set Deidara down on the floor. "You just wait here."

Deidara watched her leap from branch to branch on a tree. She got to the top and looked out into the distance...

Her face went white.

"Wh-what the...?" she stuttered.

She was right in the middle of a large circle of forest. Everything around the forest was a strange, warped blur.

Suddenly, she heard a strangled shout from below.

"Sakura! Sakura!" she heard.

"I'm coming!" she shouted, and jumped down the tree.

Deidara was trying to crawl away from what looked like...

Sasuke.

But it wasn't Sasuke, it was like a child's drawing of Sasuke, with an sharp-toothed evil smile and a deformed body. It's fingers were long and clawed as they reached for Deidara.

The puppet lifted Deidara into the air, the claws digging into Deidara's arm. Blood trickled down.

A strange fear seeped into Deidara's mind, banishing all feelings of joy, peace, and calm.

"AH! GET AWAY!" he yelled, kicking. The puppet brought him close, and licked his face with it's long, slimy tounge.

"No, n-no..." Deidara moaned weakly, shaking. "Help me, someone, please!"

Sakura ran forward, yelling as she pulled her fist back for a punch...

And then the puppet tossed Deidara aside and turned to Sakura.

It morphed into somewhat of a blob for a little, but then settled back on Sasuke's shape.

It's eyes looked into Sakura's.

An unnatural fear filled her, flooding her mind with darkness. She tried to keep calm, but her heart wouldn't listen to her, pounding faster with every passing second.

It lifted her up and drew it's hand back.

Sakura couldn't move. The overwhelming panic took of her mind, and she went into a state of silent shock, staring blankly at the puppet's eerie face.

The puppet thrust it's hand into Sakura's stomach, and she gasped, coughing blood onto the puppet's grinning face.

Deidara felt his mind clear, and he sat up.

He saw the puppet holding Sakura up, making her squirm in pain as it sank it's claws into her delicate skin...

"YAAAAAAH!" he hollered, throwing himself into the puppet. Sakura fell from it's grasp, and she lay on the ground gasping.

He forced himself to stand. Every muscle in his body protested, his stomach burning, but he ignored it, drawing a small knife from his belt.

He held it in front of him, gritting his teeth. His hair streamed out behind him, shining in the sun.

"Come a step closer and I'll gut you." Deidara growled.

He began to feel the fear crawl into him again, but he tried to act like he didn't feel it.

It didn't work, and the puppet just pushed the feeling farther. The knife shook in Deidara's hand, but his eyes narrowed, and he tensed.

The puppet walked forward, licking it's lips.

Deidara fell to his knees, the terror like gravity on his shoulders.

His strength was fading... it was coming closer...

He felt something warm under him and looked down.

He was kneeling in a pool of Sakura's blood.

Deidara roared suddenly, startling the puppet, and stood up. He threw himself at the puppet, knife flashing.

The puppet dodged and Deidara stumbled into nothing. He tripped and fell.

Onto his knife.

It dug into the side of his stomach and he clenched his teeth, the pain shooting through him.

It continued walking towards Sakura, who lay on the ground. She looked up weakly, tears trickling from the corners of her eyes...

"NO!" shouted Deidara, and he thrust his knife forward. The puppet jumped away just in time, skidding to a stop a small distance away.

The puppet, knowing that it couldn't keep juggling the two, turned to dust and blew away towards elsewhere on the wind.

Deidara froze, blood streaming freely down his stomach.

_I could escape now. I could run away, and no one could go after me. I would be free!_

But then he looked down and saw Sakura. Her eyes were closed, her face was pale. She lay in a pool of her own crimson blood.

_But... if I go back to the cave so that other girl, Ino, can heal her... she'll go after me. And I still don't have enough chakra._

_ So what'll it be?  
>She'll hear me if I try to sneak Sakura back there.<em>

_ What do I do?_

_ It's either my freedom... or her._

"Why am I being so soft?" he muttered angrily.

Then he realized that he couldn't go very far. He was hurt badly, and to top it all off he was sick now too. His head was pounding and beads of sweat slid down his skin.

Stupid puppet.

But he was almost grateful to it. Now he had an excuse to save Sakura.

_I'm going soft._ he thought, and he picked up Sakura. Her blood dripped down his arms as he lifted her, and he started stumbling back towards the cave.

Sakura trembled in his arms, and she made strangled choking noises every now and then.

"Just... hold on...!" he hissed, his entire body begging him to stop walking. He was talking to Sakura as well as himself.

The world turned hazy, but he trudged on, through the forest. His feet were numb, his thoughts were muddled.

At last, he got to the cave. He walked into the entrance.

Ino gasped and dropped the water sack she was holding. Sasori's eyes widened in surprise.

"Sakura!" shouted Ino, running forward.

That was the last thing that Deidara saw before his world went black and he collapsed onto the earthen floor.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sakura woke up slowly, seeing Ino over her.

"Ino?" she whispered hoarsely. "What... what _happened_?"

"Deidara brought you in, and then he like, collapsed!" said Ino. "What did he DO to you?"

"He didn't do anything!" said Sakura. "It was the puppet."

"So it did show up again." she heard Sasori say.

"Deidara..." said Sakura. She sat up, clutching her stomach in pain.

"Sakura, be careful!" said Ino. "Your wound, it's-"

"Where is he?" she shouted, looking around.

Ino pointed, and Sakura looked down.

He was lying on the floor, eyes closed. His face was pale and he drew in quick, labored breaths.

"He's been that way since we got here. Parts of his own knife were still in him. He seemed to take more of the shock from the puppet than you did."

"Ow!" Sakura muttered, but she still crawled over to his side.

"Dei... Deidara..." she whispered, shaking him. "Wake up, wake up...!"

His head flopped to the side, fringe falling over his face.

"Oh, oh, oh..." she said, lying down on her side. She rolled over to face Ino.

"What are we going to _do_?" she said, her voice soft and pleading.

"That's an easy one." they both heard, and turned.

Sasori looked up.

"We've got to destroy that puppet."


	6. Revelations

**Author's Note: Here you go, chapter six! This one also took me a while. please DO review, and I hope you eeeenjoy!  
>By the way... fluff warning. Pretty big fluff warning! It's going to be so fluffy, your head will explode and rainbows will leak out! But seriously, if you hate cute things (HOW COULD THAT EVEN BE?) then this chapter will eat you! XD<strong>

**Hope you guys like it, I tried to pour lots of feeling into this one, hooray, enjoy!**

Chapter Six

Ino and Sakura looked at Sasori in surprise.

But Ino shook her head and looked down, laying her hands on her lap. "But how? You can't really stab it, nothing happens when we tried."

"What about making it explode?" said Sasori.

They all turned to look at Deidara, still in a deep sleep.

"Look at him." said Sakura. "Does he look like he's going to be blowing up stuff anytime soon?"

"He's stronger than you think." said Sasori. "He'll be healed in no time."

"Let's just hope so." said Ino. "But... it can make you scared, suck your bravery away! How are we supposed to defeat it without courage?"

"We won't." said Sasori. "If we all attack it at the same time, then it'll only be able to focus on one of us!"

Ino looked up at him.

"Do you... do you think that'll work?" said Ino.

"I don't think it will." said Sasori. "I'm sure."

Ino smiled. "Well, what have we got to lose?"

"Yeah." said Sakura. "We can't get out of here without destroying it, it's all weird around this section of forest."

"And it's getting closer." said Sasori. "More daring. It wants me."

"I don't think it only wants you." said Ino. "Why would it have hurt Sakura and Deidara if it had no use for them?"  
>Sasori was at a loss for an answer.<p>

Suddenly, Deidara stirred. "Ugh..." he groaned.

"Deidara, you're awake!" said Sakura.

Ino sat against the wall next to Sasori.

"We're going to defeat that thing and whoever controlsit." said Ino. "And then, we're going back to Konoha."

Sasori nodded.

Ino looked at him and opened her mouth.

"If you're going to ask me again," said Sasori. "My decision hasn't changed."

"Oh." said Ino, turning pink. "Yeah, I... I didn't think so."

There was silence, the only noise being the quarreling across the cave.

"Why do you want me to join the village?" said Sasori.

"You still have a chance to be human!" said Ino. "And you can still live a normal life."

"But why do you care?" said Sasori.

And suddenly, Ino's face was very close to him, so close that Sasori could see his own reflection in her eyes.

"Because I like you." said Ino. "You're not a bad guy."

Sasori looked down, feeling his face heat up.

Ino reached for his face and wrapped her fingers around the bottom of his chin, turning his face towards hers.

Sasori shivered at the touch of her cool, light fingers...

And then Ino tilted Sasori's head to the side and her lips softly touched his.

Sasori's heart pounded harder in his chest, it's coldness penetrated by feeling, and his eyes flew open in surprise, but then he felt Ino draw him close with her arms and his eyes slid shut.

The world fell from them.

Ino slowly pulled her head away, but she still held on to Sasori, who looked up at her with something new in his eyes.

It was sorrow, and surprise, and something different. Something else, a desire, an awakening to a new sensation.

Love.

He tested out this strange new feeling, burying his face in her chest.

_She smells like flowers._ he thought.

Ino was very surprised at this, but in the end she just smiled and ran her fingers through his soft red hair.

_I'm getting through to him. _she thought. _Only a small push more..._

At the other side of the cave, things were going less smoothly.

"Hold still so I can heal you!" Sakura yelled.

"But it hurts!" Deidara whined, pushing her hand away.

"If you don't behave, I'll make you!" Sakura yelled, trying to put her hands on his wound again.

"I'm not a dog!" said Deidara angrily, catching her hands and pushing them away. "You don't tell me when I can 'behave' and when I can't! Got it, yeah?"

"No, I can tell you what I want when I want to!" said Sakura. "I'm doing you a favor here!"

"Well I don't want your favor!" said Deidara.

Sakura fastened her hands around Deidara's throat, and Deidara sucked in a quick breath.

"You keep squirming around like this," she hissed. "And I'll choke you. Got it?"

"Fine!" said Deidara. "Now can you take your hands off my neck, yeah?"

Sakura growled at him and put her hands on his wound. He flinched as her hands glowed blue.

Soon, the wound was mostly closed.

"Huh. Ino did a pretty good job yesterday, then." Sakura muttered, and withdrew her hand. Deidara sat up, the chains on his wrists jangling.

"These chains annoy me, yeah." he muttered crossly.

"Great. There's something you have in common." Sakura said, turning back to him with a bandage.

Deidara lifted his arms as Sakura wrapped the bandage around him. When she was done, Deidara looked down.

"I still don't have a shirt, yeah!" he grumbled.

"We don't have an extra shirt!" said Sakura, annoyed. "We were just going for a simple trip through the forest when we saw you!"

Deidara rolled his eyes and sighed.

Sakura turned to ask Ino a question-

"What the-?" Deidara.

Sasori was sleeping in Ino's arms.

The two stared at Ino ruffling his hair for a little while.

_This better be some crazy escape plan, yeah! _thought Deidara.

Sakura suddenly felt very embarrassed and turned away. Deidara did the same.

"I don't know either." she said, and then she sighed. "Hey, is your chakra back?"

"I think so." said Deidara. "Now if only you could give me my clay so I could-"

"No." said Sakura, crossing her arms. "I'm not STUPID, you know!"

"Really?" Deidara muttered. "I thought otherwise-"

She slapped him.

"Ow, what was that for?" he said.

"Idunno. You were just being annoying." said Sakura, smiling.

"I'll never understand you, yeah." Deidara grumbled.

It was about midday, but the sky was dark with storm clouds.

"Another storm?" said Sakura. "That's a little strange."

"What isn't strange?" said Deidara, throwing up his hands. "Everything's completely insane in this crazy place, yeah!"

"I supposed you're right." said Sakura.

There was silence as Sakura zipped up her pack.

She turned around. "Hey, Deidara?"

"Hm?"

"Are you hungry?"

"Wha?" said Deidara, snapping out of a daze.

"Are you hungry?" Sakura repeated.

Deidara's stomach growled at the thought of food. Food was probably a good idea.

"Now that you mention it... yeah, guess so." he said.

Sakura rummaged in a small bag and tossed Deidara and apple. It hit his head and bounced off.

"Nice catch." she snickered.

"Hey!" he said, picking up the apple. "You threw it, it wasn't fair!"

"It's not my fault you don't react fast enough." said Sakura, staring at the wall.

Deidara ate the apple in about fivebites, then tossed the core away.

"Aaah, that was good, yeah!" he said, flopping onto the floor. "I'm bored. Let me go."

"What the heck?" said Sakura. "No!"

"Then what do I do?" Deidara whined.

"Are you sure your chakra's back?" said Sakura.

"Erm... pretty sure." said Deidara. "Okay, maybe in a little more time, yeah."

Sakura yawned and rubbed her eyes.

"Are you tired?" said Deidara.

"Your wound wasn't easy, you know." said Sakura, trying to get comfortable on the rocky ground.

Deidara looked at her and grinned evilly.

"You can come sleep over here if you'd like, yeah." he snickered.

"SHUT UP!" said Sakura, her hands curling into fists.

"Don't punch me, yeah!" said Deidara. "It was only a joke, sheesh!"

"Well I'm not laughing." said Sakura, "And I think I'll sleep farther away from you now."

She picked up her blanket and moved farther away.

"Hey! I'm not... that kind of person!" said Deidara, turning red.

"How do I know that?" said Sakura.

Deidara muttered something and decided to go to sleep himself. He lay down on the floor and closed his eyes.

Suddenly, he felt cold.

Not just cold from the wind. A cold that seeped into his very thoughts...

"Sakura." he whispered.

Sakura said nothing.

"Sakura!" he repeated.

"Fwaaah?" she drawled sleepily.

"Sakura, there's something wrong!" he said.

"What?" she said, sitting up and crawling to his side. "Did you hear something?"

"I think it's coming, yeah." said Deidara.

Sakura stood up and cautiously walked outside, looking around. "There's nothing here, quit worrying!"

Deidara watched her sit down next to him again.

"Hey, Deidara?" she asked.

"What is it?" he said.

"Why did you save me?" she said, pulling her knees up to her chest.

Deidara was surprised by the question. "What... what do you mean, yeah?"

"Why did you save me? You really could have just run away when the thing turned on me." said Sakura. "You hadn't been hurt yet, not really. So why did you protect me?"

He shrugged. "It was just... something to do..."

"You're turning red." said Sakura. "Why?"

Deidara was blushing to the roots of his hair.

"No reason, I just felt like it!" he said, looking away.

Sakura crawled to the other side, where he was looking. "I don't understand."

Deidara looked at her, his eyes darting away from her eyes nervously.

Sakura looked at his face closer.

_Does he...?_ she wondered.

And then Deidara grabbed her head and pulled it towards him, thusting his lips onto hers. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer with his strong arms.

At first, Sakura was shocked and tried to pull away, pushing his shoulders with her hands, but then she felt how warm his embrace was and she relaxed.

Sakura then kissed him back with such force that they tumbled to the ground, and they pulled at each other's hair wildly, the world exploding into colors around them-

Sakura pushed off and rolled away, gasping and out of breath. Deidara lay there dazed for a few seconds, his eyes staring into the distance as an incredulous smile crept onto his face.

As Sakura turned to him, his usual nonchalant look appeared on his face.

He turned away from her.

"That's why." he said.

"Why what?" said Sakura, her head still spinning.

"That's why I saved you." he said, and he closed his eyes.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Two robed figures leapt through the trees.

"Are you sure you saw them there?" said Itachi.

"Yeah, plain as day!" said Kisame. "The girl just walked into the cave, and the rest of them were there too!"

"I don't think they can get out of this are either." said Itachi. "Thank goodness we have the small emergency Akatsuki base in this area."

"So," said Kisame, "Who's top priority?"

"Deidara, definitely Deidara." Itachi assured him. "He's strong, we need him. Plus, Sasori has no powers. So we'll get Deidara first."

"That idiot, always running off." said Kisame. "How rude."

"We'll teach him a lesson." said Itachi.

"That we will, that we will." Kisame responded, a cruel smile twisting across his mouth

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"WAKE UP!" shouted Ino.

Everyone stirred and woke up.

"It's nighttime, and it's stopped raining... we should go after that puppet now!"

"But I'm so tired..." muttered Sakura.

"Too bad!" said Ino. "Let's go!"

"I'm chained." said Sasori.

"Oh yeah." said Ino. "How about this?"

She grabbed one end of Sasori's chains and clipped it onto her own hand.

"There." she said. The rest of the chains dissolved.

Sakura did the same

"You're attached to me." said Ino. "You can't run away now, you'd just drag me along with you."

"Okay." said Sasori.

"Fine!" grumbled Deidara. "You don't trust us, do you?"

"No." said Sakura. "We don't."

"Let's walk around outside a little." said Ino. "Deidara, just... get a bomb ready."

"I'll do it because I want to, not because you told me to." he said as Sakura handed him a clay pouch.

"Immature, much?" she said.

"Shut up, yeah!" said Deidara, and a small bird appeared in his hand. He closed his fist around it and Sakura snatched the clay back.

They started walking, the birds chirping cheerily in the trees.

"It'll come." said Sasori. "It has to."

They heard a noise, like wood snapping, and they turned.

"It's here!" shouted Ino.

"But I thought it didn't make noise when it came!" said Deidara.

"You're right." said Sasori. "It's probably just an animal or-"

A kunai whizzed past and Sakura dodged. It thudded into a tree behind her.

"Or not." she said.

"Run!" shouted Ino.

They all ran, their feet crunching the fallen leaves beneath them. But the two shapes whizzing alongside them still relentlessly pursued them.

Suddenly, Sakura felt her chain jerk back. Deidara screamed from the other end.

"Agh, let go of me!" she heard hims say.

"Sakura!" shouted Ino, and grabbed her feet as she fell onto the ground. Whoever was pulling the other side of her chain was pulling hard.

She looked back.

Itachi had grabbed Deidara.

Deidara kicked at him. "Let go!" he shouted.

He then smiled, remembering the bird in his hand.

He flicked it back at Itachi-

Before he could say Katsu, Kisame hit him on the head with his still wrapped sword. Stars burst in front of Deidara's eyes, and before he could come to his senses and detonate the bomb, Itachi stepped on it, grinding it into the ground.

Sakura pulled on the chain, trying to get Itachi to let go of the blonde. But Itachi was strong.

And then Kisame grabbed what looked like a small cloth square from his pocket and pressed it onto Deidara's mouth and nose.

Deidara tried to kick him, but the shark-man punched him in the stomach.

He started to feel sleepy.

"No!" shouted Sasori. "It has a chemical to make him sleep!"

Deidara thrashed wildly, angry tears gathering in his eyes. His shouts and curses were muffled by the cloth on his face, and he couldn't hold in his breath.

He breathed in the poison.

"Yes, breathe in deeply." Kisame sneered. "That's a good boy. Just go to sleep."

Deidara shook his head weakly, losing strength fast.

It was too much for Sakura. She ran towards him, yelling as she pulled back her fist-

Kisame took hold of the chain and his sword unraveled quickly.

He chopped straight through it.

"No!" shouted Sakura, and Kisame grabbed her part of the chain and flicked it, throwing her back.

She slammed into Ino, who fell over.

Sasori ran forward. Though he had no weapons and no plan, if he seemed confident they would think he did...

But apparently, they didn't care about him. Itachi picked up Deidara, who was lying on the ground, and leapt away along with Kisame.

"No!" shouted Sakura, picking herself up. She started running, but then screeched to a stop when she realized she couldn't feel any of their presences.

"Where'd they go?" she cried. "Where are they? Where'd they take him? Where-!"

Ino grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "Okay, you know what? Calm down! We'll find him!"

Sasori let the chakra threads on his bad leg loosen and he fell to his knees.

_Now what?_ he thought.

"Sasori," said Ino, walking towards him. "How're we going to find him?"

Sasori looked up at her, his face tired and sad.

"I have no idea." he lamented, and Ino helped him onto her back.

"Save your chakra." she told him. "You'll need it for when we get Deidara back."

_Such determination._ thought Sasori. _But will we get him back?_

Sakura's fists clenched as she stood up.

"I'm coming, Deidara." she said, and she turned and walked after Ino, deep into the forest.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Deidara opened his eyes.

"I'm awake!" he said.

"Good." said a voice.

Deidara tensed as he heard Itachi's voice.

"You-!" he said, staring him down with nothing but pure hatred in his eyes.

"Me." said Itachi. "Now, let's talk business."

Deidara glanced around him, and saw that he was in a small steel room. There was a door at the other end, and he was tied firmly to a chair.

Itachi leaned over him, and Deidara stared angrily back at him.

"This will not go unpunished." said Itachi. "But you must promise that it won't happen again."

"Never!" Deidara spat. "I won't go back to Akatsuki!"

Itachi was taken aback, but his face revealed nothing. "Why not?"

"Because someone convinced me that I control my own life." said Deidara. "I won't kill anyone innocent ever again, yeah, and that's final!"

"Silly brat." said Itachi, slapping him. "You are but the Akatsuki's pet. You must listen and behave, because your life is in our hands."

"No!" Deidara shouted. "I don't belong to anyone, and I'm not going to let you use me any longer, yeah!"

"Well," said Itachi. "I hope that you reconsider."

"And why would I?" said Deidara.

Itachi thrust a kunai into his stomach.

Deidara coughed blood, and he gasped as Itachi pulled it back out again.

"Oh..." he moaned.

"That's nothing." said Itachi. "I can do far worse than that, believe me."

"Bite me." Deidara snarled.

And Itachi slowly sank his knife back into Deidara's stomach. But this time, he twisted it, digging it in deeper.

Deidara screamed, and the scream echoed throughout the rooms of the place.

"I've never liked you." said Itachi. "You're the weak part of our organization, and very disagreeable to top it all off."

His hands were red when he withdrew them.

"I won't kill anyone anymore!" shouted Deidara, blood trickling out of his mouth.

"It's not your choice." said Itachi, and he wrapped his hands around Deidara's throat.

And squeezed.

Deidara struggled for air, his world going black-

and then the pressure was off his throat, and he breathed deeply.

"Are you sure?" said Itachi.

Deidara, out of breath, just nodded.

Itachi walked out of the room and Deidara sagged in relief.

But then he came back with a katana.

Deidara shook as he neared, squeezing his eyes shut.

Itachi hacked into Deidara's stomach with the sword, and Deidara screamed, the scream ending in a sob. Tears leaked out of his eyes and ran down his cheeks.

Itachi stood passively by.

"S-stop..!" said Deidara weakly.

Itachi thought of other ways to break him, cocking his head to the side. He didn't feel like wasting his sharingan on such an easy case, and he grabbed Deidara's face with his cold fingers.

"Don't touch me, yeah!" shouted Deidara, pulling his face away. But Itachi grabbed again and tilted it back, slowly slicing a line with his sword on Deidara's neck.

He stood up, wiping his Katana on his robe.

"Please... please...!" said Deidara

"You're pathetic and weak." said Itachi, looking with disgust at the trembling, crying boy in front of him. "Tell me when you reconsider. I'll come back in a few hours."

Blood dripped from everywhere, warm and red, and Deidara cried in fear pain, and anger.

"Why can't I be stronger?" he shouted, cursing himself, and how after so many years of hardship he could still break so easily, looking weak in the eyes of the enemy.

He thought of Sakura, missing her kindness in such an unwelcoming, horrible place.

It was cold in the dark room.

But Sakura wasn't there to make him warm again anymore.

.


	7. Cry

**Author's Note: Well, here you go! Chapter Seven. Okay, a warning. Deidara goes pretty OCC for a while in here, but not REALLY, because it's just because of the torture and the shock and stuff. Plus, it's crucial for character development. This chapter is heavily based on DeiSaku (AND LOTS O FLUFF), but don't worry, SasoIno will have the bigger part in the next chapters as well. Anyway, PLEASE review, even if you have nothing to say! I accept anonymous comments. Thank yoooooouz for readin, hope you eeeenjoy!**

**(honest critique is both accepted and desired!)**

Chapter Seven

_"I never wanted to kill anyone, you know."_

"_I only wanted to make my art more beautiful so maybe one day they'd appreciate it."_

"_Eleven times. That's how many times I tried to escape. And every time that I did, the torture would just get worse and worse. So I stopped trying and went along with it."_

_ "You have no idea what it's like, what they do to you if you misbehave."_

_ "From here, it's just from the frying pan and into the fire."_

_ "the Akatsuki will find me and kill me no matter what..."_

His kiss. So full of longing, so full of passion.

"_That's why I saved you."_

Sakura bit his lip, holding back the tears gathering in her eyes.

_He wasn't a bad person. _she thought sadly. _He can be annoying and jerky at times, but he was never a bad person. All his life he was controlled and used. But he still managed to keep his sanity and his feelings... and he loved me._

The tears fought their way out.

_And I'd grown to love him too. Why didn't I tell him, before they took him? This always happens. I don't tell someone that like them soon enough, and then they're gone. Like Sasuke._

_ But Deidara... he was more than Sasuke. He shows what he feels and what he thinks. He told me he loved me._

_ And he was broken inside. He might've acted tough, but he was always broken inside. _

_ I could have fixed him, and he could've fixed the hole that Sasuke left within me. But I didn't, and now he's gone forever._

"Sakura!" called Ino. "If you're done feeling bad for yourself, do you think you could help us?"

"Yeah." said Sakura, picking herself off the ground and wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

Ino emerged from the leafy forest and beckoned to her. Sakura followed.

Sasori rested on her back, saving his chakra. He'd found some old scrolls in the woods, and was planning to use them should a fight occur.

"We have to search quickly." he said, laying his chin on Ino's shoulder. "Or else that puppet'll come after us."

Sakura nodded. "So how are we planning to find him?"

Sasori and Ino looked at each other.

"No idea." said Sasori.

"Not a clue." said Ino. "But we're looking around, seeing if we can find any clues."

Sakura nodded. "That's a good way to start, I guess." she said.

They searched.

Suddenly, Sakura thought she saw something move nearby.

"Hey, Ino, did you see that?" she said.

"What?" said Ino, whirling. "Where?"

Sakura pointed. "I was sure I saw something move over there."

"It made no sound." said Sasori. "Be careful. It might be the puppet. Or it's master, whoever that may be."

Ino accidentally pulled on his bad leg and he hissed in pain.

"Sorry, sorry!" she said.

"No, it's okay." said Sasori. "It's just hurts."

"We really have to get to Konoha." said Ino, and she sighed. "But first, we have to get back Deidara... and then we have to defeat the puppet! How are we supposed to do that?"

"We'll make it." said Sakura. "I'm going to find Deidara, no matter what!"

As if responding to her words, the wind blew through the area, making the leaves rustle.

"Hey." said Sasori. "Ino, Ino!"

"What?" she said.

"The smell of smoke." he said, hope glinting in his eyes. "It carries on the wind!"

"He's right!" said Sakura. "I smell it now; come on, follow it before it fades!"

They ran, following the trail in the wind.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The door to the dark room creaked open, letting in chinks of light.

Someone on a chair in the middle of the room looked up, squinting in the light.

"I am guessing you're hungry right now." said Kisame, closing the door behind him and locking it with a resounding clunk.

Deidara looked up at the blue man and bared his teeth, struggling against the chains that bound him to the chair.

"My, what rudeness!" said Kisame. "No manners. Was that a yes, by the way?"

"Why do you care, yeah?" Deidara said.

"Oh, yes. Because you're not eating until you agree to join Akatsuki again." said Kisame, smirking.

Anger bubbled inside Deidara's mind. "What's in it for you, yeah?"

"An extra payment, victory for the Akatsuki, many things. But that's not what matters. Have you changed your mind?"

"Never!" Deidara snarled.

"Shame." said Kisame. "Should I call Itachi?"

"See if I care!" said Deidara.

Kisame walked out.

"Hey, Itachi!" he called.

Deidara clenched his hands into fists, determined to hide their pathetic trembling from the Uchiha.

Itachi walked in.

"You obviously haven't learned your lesson yet." he said, drawing his sword.

"Do your worst." said Deidara. "But I'm never going back, yeah, and that's final!"

Itachi was suddenly beside him, grabbing his head.

"I wonder what I should try first..." he said smoothly, tracing Deidara's face with his long, cold fingers.

Terror blossomed in Deidara's heart.

"Don't touch me, yeah!" he said, trying to pull away.

Itachi said nothing.

"I hate you!" Deidara cried. "You and everyone with that idiotic sharingan!"

"But hate can do nothing for you now." said Itachi. "And if I am not mistaken, I think it's fear you feel now."

_How did he he know? Can he smell fear, like a dog? _part of him wondered, but he tried to look strong.

His fingers lightly slid down Deidara's face, and Deidara shivered with revulsion.

"Stop that!" he cried.

"Would you rather I did it with my sword?" said Itachi.

"N-no!" said Deidara, cursing his weak trembling voice for giving his fear away.

And Itachi had found what he wanted. The sign that the boy still feared him.

"You can't hide what's inside..." said Itachi, and he slowly sliced a line across Deidara's throat.

Deidara felt the cold steel and the sharp pain, and felt dizzy as warm blood oozed out of the cut.

"We'll torture you until you die, Deidara." said Itachi. "If you want to live, then you'll rejoin Akatsuki-"

"No!" Deidara shouted. "I'd sooner die!"

"And so you shall." said Itachi, sliding the sword smoothly across Deidara's chest.

Deidara felt dizzy, the pain shooting across him. He gagged.

Thick crimson burst from the wound, drenching him. The taste of iron filled his mouth, the taste of blood.

Itachi watched the blood splatter across the floor and his robes.

Kisame peeked in.

"Wow, Itachi can really be a scary guy when he wants to." he muttered, turning away.

Deidara gasped, tears streaming out of his eyes.

"I'll never... give in...yeah...!" he choked out.

_His strength is incredible._ thought Itachi. _But he's breaking. This'll be easy._

"Deidara," he said.

Deidara didn't look up, sucking in air as he choked on his own blood.

Itachi let loose a kick into Deidara's stomach, and he cried out as the older wounds tore open, spilling red onto the floor.

"You will listen to me when I talk." said Itachi.

Deidara broke out in sobs, clenching his teeth. The pain was too much.

"Either you join the Akatsuki again..." said Itachi.

He hacked Deidara's leg, and Deidara screamed.

"Or I will slowly saw off your leg." said Itachi, turning away and shaking the blood off his hand. "I will come back in a few hours. Think about it."

And then Itachi left, closing the door behind him. Any light that had been in the room before was now gone, leaving him in pitch black darkness.

Deidara swallowed hard. He didn't want this anymore. Not the pain, not the pressure, not the humiliation.

But he did want to see Sakura again. And while he held her in his mind and heart, he would be strong.

At least, that's what he hoped.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"The smoke is gone!" said Ino.

"Ugh, how are we going to find anything without that?" Sakura muttered unhappily.

Sasori's arms suddenly tightened around Ino's neck.

"What, what is it?" she said.

"Ino," he said. "I think it's coming."

"What is?" said Sakura, a few feet away. She turned. "You mean..."

"It's coming, it's coming!" said Sasori.

"What? How do you know?" said Ino, utterly confused as she looked around, dazed.

"It's coming, it's coming, it's coming! Quick, we've got to hide!" said Sasori, panicking.

"I willm, just- loosen your arms!" Ino choked out, pulling his arms from around her throat.

"Sorry." said Sasori.

"Where do we hide?" said Sakura, pacing nervously.

"Hey.. what's that?" said Ino.

Something was sticking out of the ground. Something thick and round.

Almost like...

"A chimney." Sakura breathed, hope flooding into her. "It's a chimney! That's where the smoke was coming from!"

"And that might be where Deidara is." said Ino.

They ran over to the chimney, gathering around it.

Sakura dug through the earth, feeling steel beneath her fingers.

"Help me, Ino!" she said, trying to pull a handle sticking out of the ground.

Ino turned and set Sasori onto the floor. "Stay!" she said, running over to help Sakura.

"I'm not a dog." Sasori muttered. He couldn't leave anyway, he was still chained to Ino. Not that that bothered him, though.

"Pull!" Sakura groaned.

"AAAAAH-!" Ino grunted, and suddenly it burst open, flinging them off.

"Think they heard that?" Sakura whispered as Ino ran to pick up Sasori.

"Wait, I should stand now." said Sasori, wrapping chakra threads around his bad leg and making himself stand. "What if we get into a fight?"

"Good point." said Ino. "Just follow, then. You got those old scrolls we found in the forest?"

Sasori nodded.

"Good, let's go, quickly!" said Ino. Sakura and Sasori followed her into the darkness.

Once they were in the passageway, Sasori reached up and closed the hatch doors above them. There was darkness for a few seconds.

Suddenly, a few lights near the floor flickered on, lighting up the passage.

"Sh, be careful." said Sakura, her face set and determined.

_I'm coming, Deidara._ she thought.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It hurt.

It all hurt, it all ached.

Deidara was loosing his mind.

Itachi had come in to torture him a bit more. And it had been horrible, truly horrible.

Soon, he would come in and cut off Deidara's leg. That's what he'd promised.

He didn't have much left in him. It was all draining out. The hope, his strength, his blood.

_This is it._ he thought. _I'm going to die here. _

_ I'm sorry, Sakura. _

_ I wonder if she ever liked me? Probably not. I'm such an idiot. At least I told her before they took me. I bet they already defeated the puppet and went home._

He swallowed, but even that small movement hurt his throat horribly.

_I'm going to fall apart the next time someone comes in here._ he thought. _Itachi, Kisame, whatever. I'm going to fall to pieces, and it won't matter that it's embarrassing, because I'm going to die anyway._

_ I wasn't as strong as I thought I was. They've broken me._

_ I just want to keep my sanity and my thoughts until the end._

_ I'm sorry, Sakura._

_ Goodbye._

Fresh tears ran down his cheeks.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The small group of ninja came to a place where the corridor split into three different paths.

"If we cut the chain," said Sasori. "We could-"

"Not on your LIFE!" said Ino. Sasori sighed.

"Ino," said Sakura. "I'm guessing that that one, all the way to the left, is the one where they keep prisoners. See, there's the key holder thingy hanging on the wall."

"Smart." said Ino. "Should we go with you, or try nab Kisame and Itachi? They won't be expecting it, you know."

"No, that's a bad idea." said Sasori. "We aren't many, and they're strong."

"Okay." said Ino. "I'll stand in front here and block them if they come. We're buying you time, Sakura, use it well!"

"Yes!" said Sakura.

Itachi was walking down the metal hallway when he saw someone run in.

Sakura screeched to a stop.

She saw Itachi carrying a very large saw covered in something dry that didn't look like rust. And he had a key in his hand.

Sakura blurted out a very unladylike word and Itachi settled into a fighting position.

_Agh! _thought Sakura desperately._ I can't fight here!_

_ Well, I'm going to have to anyway._

_ You better still be alive, Deidara, or this'll be for nothing! _Sakura thought.

She ran down the hallway, pulling her fist back.

Itachi dodged nimbly, thwaking the huge saw into-

Wall.

The Sakura he'd stabbed had been a clone, unrecognizable in the darkness. So where was-?

Sakura slammed him into the wall. He hit his head. Hard.

Itachi stumbled, but he turned and thrust his saw forward again. It scraped Sakura's skin, but she whirled and launched a kick into Itachi's face. He fell.

"Can't use your Sharingan in low light, now can you?" Sakura taunted. "I can't see it, idiot!"

But she'd let her guard down. Itachi grabbed her leg and lifted his weapon-

Sakura kicked his face and he went down. Out cold.

_He's not a very good fighter in closed spaces, is he? _thought Sakura. She snatched the keys from Itachi's grasp, looking through them. She walked up to a door that had something dark and sticky under it.

She sucked in a breath as she realized it was blood.

And she slid once of the keys into the lock. It clicked.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Deidara heard some muffled noises, then the click of the key sliding into the lock.

_Oh..._ he thought. _Oh please, no, I don't want to die like this... he's coming, he's opening the door._

_ I'm cold._

_ Sakura, I'm sorry, you were the only person that ever showed me kindness. Thank you..._

_ Goodbye..._

He stared, frozen in terror, as the door creaked open just a crack...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kisame walked down the hallway, fiddling with his sword, Samehada.

Suddenly, as he rounded the corner, he saw-

"What the-?" he shouted, his sword unraveling.

"Ino." Sasori whispered. "Try to get Kisame far away from Deidara and Sakura."

Ino nodded.

"Well!" said Kisame. "Vermin always find their way in, don't they?"

Sasori gripped a scroll and Ino drew two kunai.

And as Kisame leapt at them, Sasori whipped the scroll open.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Deidara squeezed his eyes shut, lowering his head.

Sakura walked into the room, her feet light on the floor. She saw what looked like a person, covered in blood, sitting on a chair in the center of the room.

She walked forward, and then saw in the glimmer of light from the hallway...

Blonde hair.

"Deidara?" she said cautiously, reaching out her hand.

Her voice rang like the sweet peals of a bell in Deidara's ears. He couldn't believe it.

No. He really couldn't.

It was probably a trick.

Sakura saw him start to look up. He was... he was _shaking_!

Sakura quickly ran over. "Deidara!" she shouted. She chopped through the ropes that held him to the chair, and he fell pitched forward. Sakura kneeled on the ground.

Deidara looked up, and saw in front of him Sakura's face.

It was Sakura. It was really her.

Deidara sobbed, burying his face in her chest. Sakura looked down, completely surprised.

"Sakura..." he moaned. "Oh, oh, oh..."

Tears welled up in Sakura's eyes as she saw the gashes all across his chest and arms.

_What did they DO to him?_ she wondered, shocked.

"I'm here, I'm here, it's over." she said, wrapping her arms around him. He trembled in her arms like a small child.

And Deidara felt warm. The warmth spread through him, making him forget the pain, making him forget his fear and sorrow.

He cried harder, and it made his stomach hurt. But he didn't care.

"Deidara," said Sakura, lovingly running her fingers through his hair. "There's something I should have told you before, something that I didn't say."

Deidara looked up at her, eyes tired and full of hope. Sakura wiped the tears and the blood coming from his mouth off his face with her sleeve.

"I love you." she said.

Deidara snuggled into Sakura's chest, smiling a real smile.

"I love you too, yeah." he said. "Thank you.

"Thanks for what?" said Sakura, her voice kind and full of warmth.

"Everything. I-" said Deidara. He tried to say something else, but he was cut off by coughing. Blood dripped onto the floor as he coughed.

"Sh, sh, shhh." she whispered, calming him.

"Sakura..." he sobbed, still amazed that it was really her.

_He's so... broken._ Sakura thought compassionately.

And they held on to each other tightly, not wanting to ever let go.

"A touching scene." they heard, and Sakura turned.

Itachi picked himself off the floor outside.

"You monster!" she yelled. "How could you do something like this?"

Itachi shrugged.

"You'll pay for this." she hissed.

Deidara's hands clutched the folds of her clothes tightly, shaking harder.

Sakura gently pulled Deidara's hands off herself, laying him on the ground. She took off her sweater and draped it over him.

"Rest." she told him, and then she turned to Itachi and pulled on her gloves.


	8. Return

**Author's Note: WHEW! That took me DAYS to write! It's not even the best chapter. But the story must go on, no?**

**AGH I'm running out of steam! I hope I don't run out before the story ends, that happened to me once and it was awful. I MUST KEEP WRITING!**

**Thanks for all your reviews, please review if you haven't already, and... hope you enjoy!**

Chapter Eight

Sasori's scroll unraveled, spilling onto the floor. A puff of smoke exploded from it, blowing past Kisame.

A puppet emerged.

But this was a strange puppet, not quite human and not quite animal. It clacked ominously, dangling in the middle of the hallway.

Sasori reached into it with his chakra, feeling around. It had few weapons in it, and it was old and covered in rust and plants, but it would have to do for the moment.

"Ha! That old thing?" Kisame sneered. "You wanna defeat me with _that?_ I thought you were better than this, Saso-"

"Don't listen to him!" said Ino. "He's just trying to make you angry."

Sasori nodded.

Kisame leapt at them, lifting his sword...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sakura balled her hands into fists.

"You've messed with the wrong person, idiot." she said as she summoned her chakra to her fists.

"It is you who shouldn't have come back." said Itachi, passively turning his sword over in his hand.

Deidara watched from the ground, angry with himself.

_I should be helping!_ he thought. _I'm the one who's fault this is. She doesn't stand a chance against the Uchiha. What does she think she's doing?_

"Sakura..!" he said from the floor. "D-don't... don't fight him-!"

A stream of blood burst out of his mouth.

"Deidara-!" she shouted, turning. But the minute she turned, Itachi was suddenly next to her, drawing his sword back.

And then he thrust it forward.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kisame's sword slammed into the wall as Sasori dodged. His chakra threads flickered, and his eyes narrowed.

That blow had been meant to kill, and his chakra wasn't working too well.

It had worked better when he was a puppet.

Kisame dislodged the sword from the wall and stabbed it forward, towards Ino. She moved out of the way, spinning, and launched a punch towards Kisame's face. He slid under her fist and thrust his sword upwards-

And then something hard slammed into Ino, pushing her out of the way. It was the puppet.

"Thanks." she said, picking herself off the ground.

Sasori twisted his hands, trying to get the puppet to get up again.

_Work, darn it._ he thought...

Kisame darted at him, and his eyes widened as he leapt to the side. But the hallway was narrow, and Sasori slammed into the wall.

"This is such a joke." Kisame chuckled. "Now, why don't you give up so-"

Ino yelled and punched the side of his head, snapping it to the side. He stumbled but straightened up just in time for a rebound off the wall. He flew at Ino-

She jumped to the side, and he slammed into the wall.

"Heh." she said. "Who's laughing now?"

"I am." she heard, and then the Kisame at her feet turned to water.

Something large slammed into her back and stars burst in front of her eyes.

Sasori watched Kisame hit her, and he ran at him. Kisame had barely enough time to turn before Sasori lifted his hand, swinging his puppet into the blue man.

Kisame held it off with his sword, grunting. Many spinning knives burst out of the puppet, as it pressed towards him.

Kisame laughed and launched a kick at the puppet.

And it crumbled to pieces.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sakura narrowly dodged Itachi's sword.

Deidara crawled back towards the wall, leaving a trail of crimson to mark where he'd passed.

The life was draining out of him.

_But at least I saw Sakura again._ he thought. _I can die... happy..._

He snapped awake. _No!_ he thought. _I can't die! I won't die, not here, not now at the hands of this Uchiha. Come on, come on... please, don't let me go to sleep...!  
><em>Sleep would be easy, painless. But if his body slowed down like that... he would die. He couldn't go to sleep.

Sakura tried to punch Itachi, but he burst into many crows, flitting across the room.

"Come on!" she shouted, looking around furiously. "Face me like a man!"

Something sliced into her back, and she pulled it out.

A black crow with a knife protruding from it's mouth squirmed in her hand.

As she looked up, she realized all of them had knives.

"Uh-oh." she whispered.

They all pointed themselves at her, stiffening in anticipation.

Deidara saw this, and knew that she would die if they hit their mark.

A bead of sweat rolled down Sakura's face, and she crossed her arms in front of her face, bending over as she braced for impact...

**Whooosh**

** SLICE**

Sakura opened her eyes.

Deidara was in front of her, arms outstretched.

"No!" she shouted.

He crumpled.

"NO!" she howled, her heart dropping. "No, Deidara! Deidara!"

The crows gathered, turning back into Itachi. And he was outside of the door.

Sakura ran at the door, but he locked it. The small window on it slid open.

"I will leave you here. I might come back later to finish you, I might not. But I must help Kisame, because I hear a commotion down the hall."

"What?" said Sakura, banging her fists on the door. "You can't do this!"

"The boy is dead. My mission here is over." said Itachi, and the small window slid shut.

Sakura sank to her knees. It was over.

She crawled over to Deidara and turned him over.

His head fell to the side, and his hair landed in the blood on the floor. It seeped across his ponytail, mixing red and the yellow.

She leaned down and picked him up, cradling his broken body in her arms.

Sakura held him, squeezing him as hard as she could. Just one last hug, one last embrace as the tears flowed freely down her cheeks.

Why had she been so careless? And now, there was no hope left. He was gone forever.

She laid him back on the ground and hugged him. He was still warm.

She squeezed him tighter, sobbing now.

"Come back." she cried. "Come back."

His blood drenched her, dripping all over her clothes. But she didn't care.

She buried his face in her chest.

And he coughed.

Sakura's eyes widened, and she got off him, watching him closely. There were no signs of life, no breathing, no heartbeat.

It had probably been that she squeezed him too hard, making air that he'd breathed while alive come out of his mouth.

But a nagging suspicion bothered her in the back of her mind.

She punched his stomach.

A fountain of blood gushed from his mouth, splattering onto the ground. He started coughing, gasping.

It had been blocking his airways.

His breaths were short and shaky, and he didn't open his eyes.

But fire of hope was building within Sakura.

She punched his stomach again and he turned over and threw up on the floor as his body rejected the blood he'd swallowed.

Sakura lifted him up quickly and carried him to a dry part of the room. She pumped at his chest, forcing him to take in air.

"Breathe!" she shouted, and Deidara heard her. He was obviously trying, but it was still hard.

She reached for one of the knives and pulled it out. He screamed hoarsely, and she reached for another one.

"S-s-stop-p!" he cried.

_His mind still works!_ thought Sakura. _Just take the pain a little longer, Deidara... come ON!_

She pulled out Itachi's knives, one by one.

The pain was excruciating for Deidara, but it made the world around him sharper and he slowly came to his senses.

He saw Sakura above him for a second...

And then he closed his eyes.

"Don't you DARE!" shouted Sakura, pumping his chest harder. "Don't you even dare to think about leaving me!"

"I'm trying, Sakura." he promised hoarsley, struggling to stay awake.

"Try harder!" she shouted.

She laid her hands on him and tried to heal him as best she could.

Suddenly, Deidara shuddered.

"Oh n-no." he said. "This is b-b-bad, y-yeah. S-sakura, th-th-th-".

"Tell me!" she said urgently. "What is it?"

"Th-the p-p-p-u... ugh..."

_He's obviously trying to tell me something._ she thought.

"Okay, just calm down." said Sakura, smoothing his red-soaked hair back from his face. "Tell me, what's wrong?"

"The... the puppet. Coming." he choked out.

Sakura froze, suddenly feeling very, very cold.

"What?" she said.

"It-wants-us-s-s-" Deidara stuttered.

Sakura looked down at him. His eyes were half-closed, staring at nothing.

"And... how do you know?"

"C-cold." said Deidara.

"You're cold?" said Sakura. "Do you want a-"

"N-n-no!" Deidara said. "Th-the puppet, yeah."

"The puppet is cold?" said Sakura, confused. "I'm not sure I understand."

Deidara opened his mouth and closed it. Sakura saw his eyes move as he forced them to focus on Sakura's jade eyes.

"I can feel it, yeah. It h-has no chakra. Only c-cold."

He was shaking so hard by now that the words where hard slurred and stuttered and hard to understand. Sakura sighed.

_He's going to die all over again if I can't get out of here fast enough!_ she thought. _And now... he says that the puppet's coming? This isn't good._

She yelled and leapt over Deidara, running towards the door.

Deidara heard a resounding clang, followed by a distinct 'OW!'

"What did the door ever do to you, y-yeah?" he muttered.

"Hey, you be quiet!" shouted Sakura, kicking the door.

Deidara breathed deeply, in and out, and forced the stutter from his voice.

"You won't get it open, yeah!" he said. "It's made of _steel_, why-

There was a resounding clang as the door flew off it's hinges, slamming into the wall of the hallway.

Deidara turned his head, staring incredulously at the beaten door. Sakura stood before it.

"Scary, yeah." he muttered.

Sakura hear a loud crash from outside the small cell.

"Gotta help them!" she said to herself.

_But I don't want to leave him here, what if he dies or Itachi comes back or something?_ she thought. _What do I do?_

She finally ran over and picked him up.

Her feet clanged against the steel floor as she bolted out.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was pretty clear who was winning the battle.

Kisame had already destroyed two of Sasori's puppets. There was only one left, and the arm had fallen off.

"Heh." said Kisame. "Look at you."

Ino was all full of cuts and scrapes and Sasori could barely hold himself up on his legs anymore. His bad leg shook beneath him, threatening to collapse any second. There was a large slash across his chest, and it was bleeding heavily.

"You can barely stand!" he cackled, twirling his sword. He caught it in his hand and held it out.

Ino gritted her teeth, a low growl coming from her throat.

"Now, the only question is, who should I finish off first?" he wondered out loud. "Oh, I know. How about I make you watch her die... Sasori?"

"Don't you dare." said Sasori, his eyes narrowing as he tensed, the puppet he controlled stiffening suddenly.

Kisame laughed and spun suddenly, throwing himself towards Sasori. But Sasori saw that it was a clone, saw the real Kisame darting around in the shadows. He dodged the fake Kisame and flung his puppet at the real one.

Kisame blocked the puppet's blows with his sword and tried to chop it up, but the puppet was stronger and the sword just managed to push it back just a little.

A light of confidence lit within Sasori, and he pushed the puppet further.

But then, suddenly, Kisame turned to water which burst all over the floor.

Sasori's eyes widened.

"Ino!" he shouted, turning as he heard something whirl past him-

"Agh!" shouted Kisame in pain as a knife dug into him. He fell, clutching his side.

"Ha! I'm not stupid, you know." said Ino, smiling as she held her knife.

Sasori breathed a silent sigh of relief. But suddenly, his relief... it turned to...

Fear?

_Oh no._

_ Not here, not now, no! _he thought.

"Ino... it's coming." he whispered.

"What is?" said Ino, still smug after her small victory over the blue man.

. "The puppet." he said. "The creepy puppet."

His voice was weighed down by dread, and it caught Ino's attention.

"But how can you feel it?" she asked.

"I don't know." said Sasori. "It's just... cold."

Ino was about to tell him something. She opened her mouth...

It all happened so quickly.

Something burst through the wall and slammed into Ino, crushing her against the wall of the hallway.

"INO!" shouted Sasori. The puppet he was controlling dropped from his chakra threads.

A dust cloud rose around the site of the collision, and Sasori waited tense and anxious for it to clear.

A shape dropped from the dust. But it wasn't Ino.

It was Itachi, bruised and bloodied.

He made a small sound, like a groan, and didn't move again.

When the dust cleared, a shaped hung in the air. Sasori didn't care what it was, his eyes only interested in the small shape that lay crumpled below it.

"Ino!" he shouted, and he ran forward.

She was crushed. Her chest looked broken, her nose was bleeding. Her limbs lay splayed at strange, awkward angles.

"No..." he said, shaking her. "Ino, no... Ino!"

Sakura ran into the small space at this this, and she set Deidara down.

Blood dripped down the side of Ino's mouth.

She was dying. Fast.

"Ino, wake up." said Sasori, swallowing hard. Her ribs looked like they were caved in...

"Wake up..." he whispered. "Wake up, wake up, wake up...!"

He sensed a shadow fall over him. It was probably the puppet, but it didn't matter anymore. Nothing did.

_No._ thought Sasori. His mind refused to believe what his eyes were telling it.

_No. Why do I care?_ he thought. _Why am I sad? What is this?_

_ I've killed people before. What's so different about this? She was just..._

_ I..._

_ Did I... love her?_

_ But... it makes no sense. Puppets don't love!_

And then it hit him. Like a ton of bricks.

_But I'm not a puppet._

Tears welled in his eyes.

_I became a puppet to live forever, to last forever and make my art for all eternity. But puppets are cold and lifeless. How... is that art?_

_ I loved her, and I enjoyed my time with her much more than making any puppet._

_ Love. It makes you do stupid things many times._

_ In that last battle with my grandmother, I wanted my parents to embrace me. So I let myself die._

_ I'm an idiot._

_ A true idiot._

_ I let myself be controlled by feelings._

_ But I like the feelings, the return of sensation. I want to keep them And I don't want to live forever, not if it means living without her._

_ But it's too late for that now. _

_ I'm an idiot._

_ Why didn't I tell her? Why didn't I agree to go with her to Konoha?_

_ I'm not a puppet anymore, and I never want to be one again. People aren't made to be made into puppets, it just doesn't work. And it's certainly not art. How is forcing your soul into something cold and inanimate art? Art is supposed to be beautiful, everlasting or not. Killing isn't beautiful. Immortality isn't beautiful._

_ She was beautiful, though._

_ I guess Ino was art._

"Ino, wake up!" he shouted, tears flooding his sight and cascading down his cheeks.

Ino didn't speak.

"Ino..." he said, his voice cracking. "You told me to smile more. How am I supposed to smile when you're gone?"

His shoulders shook as he sobbed over her. He didn't care about anything anymore. Except for her.

"I love you!" he cried, hugging her. "I love you, come back! I want to go back to your village with you, and... and we can be together, and I won't be a puppet anymore, just please. wake up... so I can see your eyes again... I want to see you smile again, one more time, please...!"

"What is Sasori doing?" said Sakura. "Is Ino...?"

All she saw was Sasori kneeling on the ground in front of Ino's body, completely ignoring the shadow that loomed above him, the puppet.

Deidara looked at him, at his face.

"Well." he said. "There's an expression- I haven't see in a while..."

"What, what is it?" said Sakura, turning to him.

Deidara coughed weakly a few times, blood dripping from his mouth.

He swallowed, and answered.

"Remorse." he said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" said Sakura. "Is Ino dead? Is that why? I don't understand!"

"Neither... do I." said Deidara, and a shudder tore suddenly through him, making him double over.

"Deidara!" shouted Sakura, starting towards him.

"No." he choked out, gasping heavily. "Help him. Th-the... puppet...!"

Kisame looked up at the dark shape above him, confused.

"What the heck?" he said.

A limb tore itself from the puppet and launched itself at Kisame.

Kisame screamed as the puppet grabbed him and threw him. He slammed against a wall, slid down, and was still.

A wind suddenly rippled around Sasori and Ino, spinning. Dust rose from the floor.

And suddenly, the wind rippling around them blasted in all directions, blowing sand and pieces of broken puppets everywhere.

Sakura tried to go against it, but it forced her down.

She crawled over to Deidara and they held on to each other for dear life, squeezing their eyes shut as they were blinded by the sand.

"What's g-going on?" said Deidara.

Sakura screamed as a large chunk of wood missed them by a few centimeters.

"Sasori!" she shouted. "Stop!"

Sasori looked around himself, confused. What was this column of wind around him? Was it coming from the puppet that lingered above him?

Sakura buried her face in Deidara's shoulder, arms wrapped around his neck.

And suddenly, as soon as it had started, the wind stopped.

Sakura looked up.

Deidara looked up.

Sasori looked up from Ino, looked above him at the puppet. It had moved back.

And in front of it, glowing, hovered a shape.

A very familiar shape.

Chiyo.


	9. Battle

**Author's Note: Well, here's chapter nine! I will be starting chapter ten IMMEDIATELY after finishing this one, so expect that right after this one. Eek, I hope no one skips a chapter by accident, with two chapters almost at the same time, y'know...!  
>ANYWAYS I hope you enjoy this chapter, I really loved writing this one! <strong>

**PLEASE REVIEW, PLEASE REVIEW, PLEASE REVIEW. REVIEW PLEEEEEEASE!**

**I know how many people are reading this, you can't fool me, mwahaha! **

**eeeenjoy!**

Chapter Nine

The three ninja stared in awe at the glowing shape hovering in front of the puppet.

Chiyo.

Ribbons of light hung around her, rippling softly, and her eyes were closed.

She opened her eyes and gazed down on the three.

Sasori swallowed hard, looking up at her.

"No..." said Sakura.

"Hey." Deidara whispered. "Is that... her? Sasori's grandmother? I don't recongnize-"

Sakura nodded her silent reply.

The apparition's gaze landed on Sasori, her eyes kind and compassionate.

"Sasori, my dear boy." she said, slowly floating down. Sasori started to stand up from where he kneeled, but she held out her hand as she landed, shaking her head.

"Stay." she said. Her hand landed on Sasori's head and he shivered as he felt cold, a strange cold like the shadows of night and the darkness of death.

"I have much to say, and little time." said Chiyo. She turned to look at Ino, splayed on the ground. "And I'd say that your time is running out as well."

Sasori didn't know what to think, what to feel.

_Why did I want to kill her?_ he thought, his clothes rippling slowly around him as she landed before him. _Why did I try?_

_ I don't want to kill her now... but I was really the one who caused her death._

"G-grandmother..." he said. "I'm... sorry..."

"Hush now." she said, shaking her head. She smiled. "I don't want to hear apologies. You're strong, Sasori. You have nothing to apologize for, not now, not anymore."

"I'm not sure I understand." he said.

"You will soon." said Chiyo. "Sakura, dear. I haven't seen you in a while, have I? Come over here. Bring my grandson's partner with you, will you?"

"I have a name, yeah." Deidara muttered, and Sakura shot him a glare as she helped him up, dragging him towards Chiyo. They sat down.

"Now, listen closely, all of you." said Chiyo. "This is important."

They listened.

"I died." said Chiyo. "I remember how it felt, dying. It was to save the Jinchuriki, Gaara. Now, understand. All the years of my life after Sasori's parents died were dedicating to raise you well, Sasori. I wanted you to grow and carry on the art of puppet-making. I wanted you to have a happy life, and know love."

Her face darkened.

"But you left. You left the village and became a missing-nin, working for the Akatsuki so you could live forever. I'd failed, and I was devastated when I finally met you in that cave again, when I saw what you'd become."

Sasori lowered his eyes, not wanting to meet his grandmother's.

"And then I died." she continued. "But as my spirit started to leave, I realized that I couldn't go. I still had unfinished business, as you might say. So I looked for your spirit.

"As I thought, you hadn't left either. Your spirit still lingered, still connected to your dying heart. Even though it had been pierced by your own 'parent' puppets, and you'd already lost consciousness, it was still taking a while to die completely."

Chiyo smiled.

"So I gathered myself up and made you a body out of the image of your spirit. Basically, a copy of the very day you turned yourself into a puppet. With the mind of the fifteen year old that you left behind as well, of course.

"And I nursed you back to health. It was slow, and you didn't wake up, but it was working. And during that time, I peeked into your memories. I saw your partner, Deidara, and thought you two were similar. You both never really had a chance to live. So I spread a net of protection over both of you. That's why you two could sense when the puppet was coming."

"So... that's why I didn't die when I blew myself up to kill Sasuke." Deidara breathed.

"You did _what_?" said Sasori, turning to him.

"Never mind that now." said Chiyo crossly. She went on:

"Sasori... I'm sorry. But I had to do what I did."

"And just what was that?" said Sasori.

"When you were almost healed," said Chiyo, "I broke your leg."

Sasori's eyes widened.

"I made my chakra noticeable so Tobi would come to check it out. He would take Deidara with him, of course, which was what I was looking for.

"I saw that Sakura and Ino were nearby, and brought this place up in their memories in the hope that they would come visit it. I was right.

"And finally, I made you, Sasori, wake up as it started to rain. Everything went well... until the other Akatsuki showed up. I wasn't planning on them showing up, but it was foolish of me thinking that they wouldn't. Tobi sensed me.

"So I slipped that scroll into your pocket, with the evil puppet."

"Why did you do that?" said Sakura. "It only tried to hurt him!"

"Sakura, patience." said Chiyo disapprovingly. "It was the only scroll nearby. I also thought that maybe you would fight together with Sakura and Ino... just the slightest chance of forming an alliance. But things went horribly wrong, and the puppet spun out of control almost immediately after I activated it."

"So why didn't you stop it?" Sasori asked.

"Because I saw opportunities." said Chiyo. "Once the outside world was blocked off, you had to be together. I hoped that maybe, in the time that you ran from the puppet, perhaps you girls could teach you two boys about the true meanings of life.

"But then the puppet went completely out of my control, and I could only watch as the puppet hurt you all, as Deidara was dragged away and tortured, as Ino was smashed against the wall."

"So... what's going on with the puppet now, yeah?" said Deidara, staring at the dark shape looming above them.

"My spirit is tied to it. I have paused it, but I can only pause it for so long. Now that my last wishes are fulfilled and my business here is over, I could just pass on, taking the puppet's mobility with me."

"So... why haven't you done that yet?" said Sasori.

Chiyo sighed heavily.

"Well..." she said. "Here's the thing. Deidara and Ino don't have much time. Deidara is going to collapse and drift into death in a few minutes, perhaps even seconds, and Ino... I don't even know if she's already leaving right now."

Sasori glanced over at Ino. He couldn't tell if she was breathing anymore.

Sakura looked at Deidara, and he shrugged.

"I've already almost died once, yeah." he said, but hit voice broke in the middle of the sentence and gave away his sadness.

"There is one more thing I can do." said Chiyo. "I could pour my remaining life-force into the ones that are dying and give you more time. But then nothing would stop the puppet. You'd have to face in on your own, all of you."

"Will all of us be able to move and function properly? Like we'd never had any wounds at all?" asked Sakura.

"Yes." said Chiyo. "But be warned, after about thirty minutes all your wounds from before will return, in addition to the new ones you have received. You will not have much time to get to Konoha. Do you still wish to try?"

Sasori turned to Deidara and Sakura, sitting behind him.

"What do you think we should do?" he asked.

"While there's still hope, we should use it." said Sakura. "We can beat one puppet, the four of us against one of it!"

Sasori nodded and turned back to Chiyo.

"We're ready." he said.

Chiyo smiled, closing her eyes and nodding. She seemed to grow just a little brighter.

She spread her arms, and strings of light burst from her hands into everyones chests. They all glowed for a second as the light flooded into them, and then the light faded and dissolved like dust on the wind.

Ino opened her eyes.

"Ino!" said Sasori, and Ino blinked, turning her head slowly to look up at him.

Her bright blue eyes met his smooth brownish ones.

She saw the tear tracks on his face and swallowed, sitting up slowly as she looked down at herself.

"I... heard you." she said to Chiyo. "In my dreams, somehow."

She turned to Sasori, who was staring at her with wide eyes, waiting for her reaction. He looked tense and sad.

"Oh, Sasori." she giggled, and she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close.

And Sasori smiled, a real smile, one that stretched across his mouth, pulling the corners up.

"Ino." he said in a soft, content voice, with the hint of a smile mixed in. "You're back...!"

Chiyo started to flicker and waver.

"Sakura," she said. "To you I say this. The blonde haired one, he's still very rough around the edges. Shape him to fit into life."

Sakura nodded.

Chiyo turned to Deidara.

"Harm Sakura, or don't protect her well enough, and I will come back from the dead to avenge her." said Chiyo.

Deidara muttered something about 'fussy old ladies, yeah' and Chiyo flashed Sakura a wink.

"Sasori," she said, starting to grow dimmer. "Never become a puppet again. People are not meant to be puppets. Ino, make sure to steer him down the right path."

They both nodded.

Chiyo smiled.

"Goodbye..." she whispered, and disappeared into mist that dissolved into the air, rising towards the steel ceiling.

The four ninja sat for a few moments, healed and still.

And then the dark shape above them made small whirring and clicking noises as it sprang to life.

"Move!" shouted Sasori, and they all threw themselves out of the way as the puppet smashed into the ground where they'd been just seconds before.

"Whew!" said Ino. "We ready to do this?"

"Yeah!" they all shouted. Sasori looked around for something to use as a weapon.

Deidara walked up to him, digging a scroll out of his pocket.

"How long have you carried this?" said Sasori, taking the scroll.

"The same amount of time that I had hope that you'd survived, yeah." said Deidara, smiling as he ran to Sakura for his clay.

"Thank you." said Sasori, and whipped the scroll open.

A puppet burst from it. It was an old one, a prototype. But it had weapons, so it would have to do.

Deidara hopped onto a bird, Sakura having reluctantly handed over his clay pouch.

"Don't go overboard, okay?" she shouted.

Deidara chuckled.

"OKAY?" she thundered.

"It's fine, yeah!" he smirked. "This isn't for Akatsuki. They can't punish me for not hurting the puppet, yeah."

"Eh. Fine." said Sakura, crossing your arms. "But you better not!"

"Still doesn't trust me. Big surprise, yeah." Deidara muttered.

"I'll be bait." said Sakura.

"But-" said Ino.

"No buts!" said Sakura. "You can't stop me."

She ran up to the puppet, and it turned to her.

It floated down and transformed into Sasuke, grabbing her.

Sakura breathed in sharply, growing rigid and tense. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of her face.

"Now!" shouted Sasori, and his puppet flung a shower of knives onto the puppet. The puppet absorbed them, and a few pointed themselves at Sakura.

"Oh, no you don't!" said Deidara, and he threw a pair of birds through the air. They sped towards the puppet and exploded on contact.

The puppet reeled back, dropping Sakura. She lay on the ground panting for a few seconds, then forced herself up, grabbing the puppet by it's shoulders. She stared into it's eyes, and it had no choice but to focus on her.

Suddenly, Deidara let out a wild scream. "Stop, stop, stop!" he shouted, the bird he was on flapping crazily.

"What? What's going on?" said Sasori.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" he shouted, his eyes wild... and unseeing...

"The puppet's showing him something!" shouted Ino. "Deidara, it's not real, it's not real! Wake up!"

Deidara grabbed onto his head and nodded, shaking.

"Just... get the puppet...!" he groaned, falling to his knees as he struggled to control his bird.

Sasori drew his hand back and stretched it forward. His puppet swung on the chakra strings and spun towards the puppet, fast like a streak of light.

The puppet dropped Sakura and blocked the attacking puppet with a crude imitation of Sasuke's katana.

Deidara shook his head and dove at the evil puppet, drawing in a breath. When he breathed out, a burst of clay shot at the puppet, sticking to it.

"KATSU!" Deidara shouted, and there was a huge explosion. Everyone was thrown back.

"Sakura!" shouted Deidara.

_I'm an idiot!_ he thought, trying to look desperately through the smoke. _She was too close... she was too close to the puppet, to the bomb..!_

"Sakura!" he shouted again. He heard a weak response and dove into the smoke.

A knife whizzed past him and he dodged it. He saw through the smoke the puppet, and the strange fear pierced him.

_No! _he thought. _Sakura is down there somewhere, I need to pass it!_

He dove right by the puppet, who turned as he flew by.

Deidara saw the puppet changing into something else, another shape, as he passed it.

He finally got to the ground. Deidara jumped off his bird and hit the ground running.

He stepped in something.

Blood.

And then, there she was. A trail of blood went down the wall, ending at the bottom where Sakura lay.

Her chest was crimson and mangled, the red dripping from her mouth.

"Sakura!" he shouted, running to her.

Sakura smiled suddenly, looking up at him. And she grabbed his throat.

Her face grew evil and twisted as she squeezed his neck and lifted him off the ground. She grew taller, taller than Deidara.

Deidara kicked at the air, struggling for breath. He pulled at Sakura's hands, but she was so strong...

Of course. The puppet.

This was the puppet, not Sakura.

So where was she? Where-

The fake Sakura holding him froze and dropped him. Deidara crumpled to the ground, gasping for breath.

The smoke had cleared, and Deidara saw the fake Sakura stagger away, turning back into a black humanoid shape.

A small shape fell to the ground, and Deidara sat up.

Sakura breathed heavily a few feet away from him. A knife was clutched in her hand.

_So... I did hit her with my bomb._ thought Deidara, going over to her quickly.

"Sakura!" he shouted, turning her over. Her chest was soaked in crimson. As she coughed, blood dripped down her chin.

"Sakura, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, yeah!" he cried. "I didn't mean it, I didn't think that you were so close to the-

Sakura shook her head, smiling.

"It's okay." she whispered. "I believe you. I trust you wouldn't try to hurt me. Deidara..."

"Just... rest." said Deidara, standing. "You'll have more time, because of Chiyo. So just rest. But... don't fall asleep, okay?"

Sakura's eyes fluttered.

"OKAY, yeah?" he said. Sakura saw the worry in his eyes.

"I won't." she assured him, and he turned and ran to his bird.

The black shape, the puppet, stumbled. It seemed angry now.

"Wait." said Ino. "What does the puppet want? Chiyo didn't tell us what it wants!"  
>"Uh, that's an easy one." said Sasori. "The puppet's made to kill, so that's what it wants to do. Also, it obviously wants to take over it's master, it's maker."<p>

"That's you." said Ino.

"Yeah." said Sasori. "I got that."

The puppet's surface bubbled as it changed into someone else.

Ino ran at the puppet, taking advantage of the opportunity. She held her knife at her side.

And then the puppet turned into Chiyo, who dodged the blow.

"My dear Sasori," said the fake Chiyo, as Ino tripped and slammed into the wall behind her. "How have you been."

"You're not..." said Sasori, clenching his hand.

"MY GRANDMOTHER!" he shouted, as his hand flew open. Small spinning blades grew out of the puppet, and it hurled itself at Chiyo.

Chiyo moved to the side, and Sasori's puppet kept going.

"Ino, MOVE!" shouted Sasori.

Ino looked up slowly, her eyes widening.

Too late.

It pinned her to the wall, the blades cutting into her.

Sasori pulled the puppet back and Ino dropped to the ground, gasping.

The fake Chiyo darted at Sasori.

Deidara threw a bird at her, but she stepped behind Sasori and the bomb hit him, exploding. He slammed into the wall, bleeding heavily.

Deidara froze.

"Sasori!" he shouted.

"Guys!" shouted Sakura, mustering all her strenght to talk. "Idiots! Don't you see? It's barely done anything! You've been the ones hurting each other! Concentrate!"

She picked herself off the ground. "We have to all focus on killing it at the same time! Surround it!"

"Right!" said Sasori.

"Yeah." said Deidara.

Ino stood up. "Come on. Forget the pain for a second, all of you. Just surround it."

They all walked towards it slowly.

The fake Chiyo puppet looked around itself, it's eyes landing on Sakura.

Sakura bit her lip.

"It's not real, it's not real...!" she muttered, clenching her teeth.

The puppet stepped back, turning to Sasori.

"You can't fool me with your illusions." said Sasori. "My parents died long ago."

The puppet spun wildly, getting nervous as it turned back into a black shape.

It stared at Ino.

"It's over." said Ino. "Can't fool me."

The puppet grabbed a knife from mid air and pointed it at Ino, but suddenly something small struck it's wrist and it it dropped the knife, making a hissing noise.

The four ninja around it lifted their hands.

"Just blast it with all you've got!" said Sasori. "It's the only way.

Their hands started to glow, the chakra building up in them.

The puppet spun wildly, making a screeching noise.

And then they fired, all of them, all at once.

The puppet screamed, a garbled, strangled, horrible scream as the chakra hit it. It turned from black to red to orange to yellow...

"Everyone, hold hands! It's gonna blow!" Ino shouted. She grabbed Sakura's hand.

Sakura grabbed Deidara's hand.

Deidara grabbed Sasori's hand.

And Sasori reached for Ino's hand...

That's when the puppet exploded.


	10. Bright

**Author's Note: WELL. I can't believe it! LAST CHAPTER, AAAAAAAH!  
>There will be more author's notes at the end, so please read them there! PWEEZE READ THAT LAST AUTHOR'S NOTE.<strong>

**EXTREME FLUFF WARNING, BY THE WAY!  
>Eeenjoy!<strong>

Chapter Ten

The forest was quiet.

Except for the small sounds coming from a clearing.

In fact... it was a pretty new clearing. All the trees had been blown away.

All that remained were some chunks of metal and a group of people off to the side, lying on the ground.

All four of them were dirty, covered in blood, and splayed on the ground as if they had been dumped there.

Ino was making small whimpering noises. Sakura cried softly, shaking.

Sasori stared up at the sky, trembling as his mind struggled to register the pain. Deidara, probably the one that had taken most of the blast, was gasping and sobbing, trying to keep himself alive. He felt the end drawing near.

"Deidara..." said Sasori.

Deidara swallowed. "Sasori no danna..." he whispered hoarsely. "You were always a good friend, yeah."

"No." said Sasori. "I'm not ready to say my goodbyes just yet."

He turned to Ino just in time to see her eyes slide shut.

"Chiyo's... effect... it's over, guys." said Sakura. "It's all over."

"No..." said Sasori. "It's not over. There's still hope. Deidara... do you have clay?"

"S-Sakura..." he groaned. "Do you have..."

"Here." she said, her arm shaking uncontrollably as she pushed the small pouch towards him.

Deidara put his hand in it and waited. Tears streamed down Sakura's cheeks as she looked at him.

"Now," said Sasori. "Make a powerful bird. As powerful as you can."

Deidara nodded and pulled his hand out.

"Make it fly. Make it go high, up over the trees. And make it explode."

"What's the point?" said Deidara. A bird flew out of his hand, flapping as it rose into the blue sky.

"Maybe someone will see it." said Sasori. He watched the bird fly in circles, climbing higher.

Deidara gasped for air, shivering.

Sakura reached for him, and she wrapped her hands around him, dragging herself towards him.

He snuggled into her soft, warm chest, forgetting his pain.

"I'm here." she whispered.

Deidara looked up into her eyes for a second, and she looked lovingly down into his. And then his slid shut.

Sasori shook Ino with one of his hands, the one that wasn't twisted beneath him, and she woke up, turning to him.

They just looked at each other.

"Katsu." Deidara whispered, and the bird exploded. The fireworks were loud and noisy, and they lit up the late night.

"Good job." Sakura whispered, and she closed her eyes.

"Ino..." said Sasori.

"Sssh." she whispered, putting her finger on his lips. "No talking. Just this."

She drew him towards her, and he held onto her neck.

_She smells like blood... and flowers._ he thought.

"They'll find us, Sasori." she said. "They've got to."

Sasori nodded, and then he reached for her face, kissing her.

"Aw..." said Ino, squeezing him. The breath went out of Sasori, and he smiled sadly. "We'll meet again, don't worry. Like you said, let's not say goodbye. Now here, not now. It's not time yet. Just... hope, Sasori. Find hope."

"I will." said Sasori.

Ino didn't answer.

"Ino?" he said.

She lay still.

Tears flooded his eyes, leaking from the corners and running down the sides of his face.

"I love you, Ino..." he whispered, and then he closed his eyes.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"We already looked there!" said one of the ninjas, annoyed.

"Well, you're going to have to look again." said Kakashi.

"All we do is go in circles, it makes no sense!" said the ninja.

"Listen. Sakura is from my team. MY team. And Ino's parents are going insane. So you WILL look again, and even a thousand times if you have to, until we find them. Understand?"

The ninja grumbled his reply and Kakashi leapt off to somewhere else.

The ninja leapt through the trees, mumbling to himself.

"Stop that!" said his partner. "Seriously. Don't you want to find them?"

"Yeah, but... we haven't found them yet. Why would we-"

Suddenly, a shower of colors exploded into the sky. The two ninja skidded to a stop.

The walkie-talkie on one of their waists crackled.

"Did you see that?"

"That was an explosion!"  
>"Maybe they're fighting there!"<p>

"Who's nearest?"

The ninja slowly took the walkie talkie in his hand as he looked around, detecting where everyone else's chakra was.

"I believe that would be... us." he said into it.

"What?" said his partner.

"Good!" said a voice on the walkie-talkie. "Go check it out, tell us if you find anything, okay?"

The ninja nodded, forgetting that they couldn't hear a nod.

"Okay?" said the voice again, more urgently.

"Y-yeah, sure!" said the ninja, snapping out of his daze. He clipped the device back onto his belt.

"Come on, let's go." said his partner, and they leapt towards the place where they'd seen the explosion.

"Whoa..." one of them breathed, looking around as soon as he landed in the clearing. "What... what _happened_ here?"

"I don't know, maybe-" said his partner, then stopped, looking off to the side.

"What? Maybe what?" said the ninja.

His partner pointed, and the ninja followed his arm's path...

They both stared.

The ninja slid the walkie-talkie off his belt and spoke into it once more.

"Uh... guys?" he reported. "I think we found something."

"Or someone." his partner suggested.

"Definitely... someone." said the ninja. "A bunch of someones! Come, quickly! Bring a medic!"

"We'll be right there!" a voice said over the walkie-talkie, and then there was silence.

Except for the chirping of the birds in the trees.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sasori woke up to find someone standing over him.

He suddenly remembered what had happened and tried to kick something, anything, but realized that he was strapped down.

"Yeah, you're strapped down." said the fuzzy shape above him. "We thought that based on your friend's reaction, it would be a good idea."

Sasori focused his eyes, and looked up. It was a doctor.

He heard a stream of curses off to the side.

"GET OFF ME, YEAH!"

"Oh, Deidara..." he muttered.

"Ino woke up before you did and told us everything." said doctor. "Can you convince your friend-"

"Deidara." Sasori corrected.

"-can you convince your friend Deidara that we're not lying?" said the doctor.

"You just want to kill me! Get that needle away, yeah! GET AWAY!" he heard.

"Deidara?" Sasori called.

"Sasori, help, thank goodness you're here... they wanna kill me, yeah!" shouted Deidara.

"No they don't. It's fine, Deidara."

"They're lying!" Deidara shouted. Sasori heard a scuffle, and then he heard Deidara cry out.

"Ugh..." Deidara groaned.

"We got the sleeping medication in." said a nurse.

"Good. Procede." said the doctor. He turned back to Sasori.

"Can I trust that you won't go crazy like your friend if I unstrap you?" he said.

Sasori nodded, and the doctor unstrapped him. He sat up, feeling a rush of vertigo.

"No, you stay down." said the doctor, pushing him back onto the cot.

"What happened?" he asked.

"A couple of our search-ninjas found you in the woods." said the medic. "We saw a bomb. I'm guessing that was your friend- er, I mean Deidara."

Sasori nodded.

"You're lucky to be alive, truly. Even five minutes more and you would have all died!"

"How is everyone?" said Sasori.

"Um..." said the doctor, flipping through his papers. "You all suffered burns... Sasori, you still have a broken leg. Your arm is broken now too, though, and other external damage. Ino had a lot of internal bleeding and punctures, on the inside as well as on the outside. Sakura had more burns that the rest of you, plus some outer damage. The worst hit was probably Deidara. He just had stab wounds all over, burns, inner damage. The blood loss was so huge, it was a miracle he can even talk by now!"

The doctor turned to leave.

"Wait." said Sasori.

"Yes?" said the doctor.

"What... what'll happen now?" said Sasori.

"Oh, I don't know." said the doctor as he went out the door. "The Hokage'll decide that!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sasori sat on a bench with Ino, their heads together. It was a bright morning.

Sakura was pacing in front of the hospital, muttering darkly to herself.

"It's a nice day, isn't it?" said Sasori.

"Yeah." said Ino. "The perfect day for this."

The door to the Konoha hospital opened and someone stepped out, a blonde...

"Deidara!" Sakura cried, and she launched herself at him.

"Oof!" said Deidara, falling over. They tumbled to the ground.

Sakura kissed him passionately, tangling her fingers in his long, blonde hair.

Deidara pulled her off, sitting up.

"Alright, alright!" he laughed. "You're glad to see me, I get it, yeah!"

"I love you, Deidara... I missed you so much!" said Sakura.

"Yeah, well..." said Deidara. "So did I. I... missed you too. Every second of every day, yeah."

"Aw, c'mere!" Sakura giggled as threw herself onto him again, pulling him down for another kiss.

"It really is nice out, isn't it?" said Ino.

Sasori smiled, just as he had every day since that fateful battle with the puppet.

"Yeah." he said, and Ino turned his face towards her. She planted a light kiss on his lips.

Sakura stood and helped Deidara up. His hair and clothes were disheveled, and he was grinning as he looked into Sakura's eyes, the jade reflecting off of the blue.

Sakura suddenly started pulling him away by his hand.

"Whoa, where are we going, yeah?" he said.

"Ino! Sasori!" Sakura called. "Naruto wants us to have ramen together so he can meet Deidara, like we did with you, Sasori. Wanna come along?"

"Don't mind if I do!" said Ino. She and Sasori stood up, falling into pace beside Deidara and Sakura.

"Carry me!" said Sakura, and she jumped up onto Deidara's back.

"Wow, you've really gained weight, yeah." he smirked.

"Oh, just shut up and walk!" Sakura laughed, pinching his cheek.

Ino turned to look at Sasori.

"Don't even think about it." said Sasori. "No piggyback rides from me."

"I wasn't, don't worry!" said Ino.

They kept walking, Deidara and Sakura chattering at the side.

"I was thinking more along the lines of... _this_." said Ino, grabbing Sasori by surprise and lifting him onto her shoulders.

Sasori laughed, wrapping his arms around Ino's neck.

"I love you, Ino." he said. The words felt right.

"I love you too." said Ino, and she smiled sweetly at him. He stared at her, enraptured by the grin.

They walked into the bright morning.

Because this isn't the end. This was just the beginning. The beginning of a new life for Sasori, and Ino, Deidara, and Sakura. The beginning of their second chance.

Love. Love is art, and they had all finally discovered that for themselves. We use love to paint the world with our colors, our stories. And now, the two former missing-nin had a chance to use it as well.

"Hey, hurry up!" shouted Naruto. "I've been waiting for forever!"

"Coming!" they said. Ino set Sasori down, and Deidara set Sakura down, and they walked into the ramen shop together.

**XXXXXXXXXXxxx The End xxxXXXXXXXXXX**

**PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING! PWEEEZE!**

**Ending Author's Note: Well, that was the end! The end. I can't believe it, how this just started off as a small inspiration and turned into... well, THIS huge thing! **

**Heh. It waaas pretty awesome.**

**REVIEW. I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH, JUST PWEEEZE PWEEEZE PWEEEZE REVIEW! I don't care if you have nothing to say, just let me know that you've been reading! Tell me anything. Tell me your favourite characters, your favourite part, your favourite chapter, anything!**

**This is probably the best DeiSaku I have written. The other one, 'The Birds Still Cry', is a little stranger, and Deidara is completely out of character for most of the fanfic. It's twenty chapters, DOUBLE this, though!**

**Aaanyway. Hope you enjoyed this, thank you for all the reviews (IMMA STILL BE WAITING FOR MORE LOLZ) and I hope you loved this fanfiction as much as I loved writing it!**

By the way, after this, I'll be taking an (about) one month vacation starting June 11, 2011! So if I don't answer reviews during that period of time, now you know why!

**THANK YOOOOOOUZ FOR STICKING WITH ME THROUGHOUT ALL THESE CHAPTERS, NO MATTER HOW BORING THEY MIGHT GET!  
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**G'NIGHT, EVERYBODY! 3**


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